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insight

[ in-sahyt ]
/ ˈɪnˌsaɪt /
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See synonyms for: insight / insights on Thesaurus.com
noun
an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing, especially through intuitive understanding: an insight into 18th-century life.
penetrating mental vision or discernment; faculty of seeing into inner character or underlying truth.
Psychology.
  1. an understanding of relationships that sheds light on or helps solve a problem.
  2. (in psychotherapy) the recognition of sources of emotional difficulty.
  3. an understanding of the motivational forces behind one's actions, thoughts, or behavior; self-knowledge.
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Origin of insight

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; see origin at in-1, sight

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH insight

incite, insight
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to insight

acumen, intuition, judgment, observation, understanding, vision, wisdom, click, comprehension, common sense, discernment, divination, drift, penetration, perception, perceptivity, perspicacity, sagaciousness, sagacity, sapience

How to use insight in a sentence

  • The first night on Home-in-sight Island was not so undisturbed as might have been expected.

    The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne

  • It had not stopped when Bob was off and up the avenue like a hound on the end-in-sight trail.

    Friday, the Thirteenth|Thomas W. Lawson

  • Land-in-sight signal will be likewise one current of 10 minutes duration, Z to E.

    The Atlantic Telegraph|William Howard Russell

British Dictionary definitions for insight

insight
/ (ˈɪnˌsaɪt) /
noun
the ability to perceive clearly or deeply; penetration
a penetrating and often sudden understanding, as of a complex situation or problem
psychol
  1. the capacity for understanding one's own or another's mental processes
  2. the immediate understanding of the significance of an event or action
psychiatry the ability to understand one's own problems, sometimes used to distinguish between psychotic and neurotic disorders

Derived forms of insight

insightful, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with insight

in sight
1

Within one's range of vision, as in The sailboat was still in sight on the horizon. [c. 1200]

2

Also, in one's sight or sights. Before one's eyes; also, within one's awareness. For example, In the world's sight he was at fault, or Harold had that promotion firmly in his sights. [c. 1200]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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