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insight

[ in-sahyt ]
/ ˈɪnˌsaɪt /
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I love the word "insight." But, the thing about it, it’s so overused in the corporate world.

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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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RELATED WORDS

intuition, observation, understanding, acumen, wisdom, judgment, vision, perception, perspicacity, sapience, drift, discernment, click, sagacity, comprehension, shrewdness, penetration, divination, perceptivity, wavelength

Nearby words

  1. insider,
  2. insider dealing,
  3. insider trading,
  4. insidious,
  5. insidiously,
  6. insightful,
  7. insightfully,
  8. insigne,
  9. insignia,
  10. insignificance

Origin of insight

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; see origin at in-1, sight
Can be confusedincite insight
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for insight

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 Formsinsightful, 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
Word Origin and History for insight

insight

n.

c.1200, innsihht, "sight with the eyes of the mind," mental vision, understanding," from in + sight. Sense shaded into "penetrating understanding into character or hidden nature" (1580s).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Medicine definitions for insight

insight

[ ĭn′sīt′ ]

n.

Understanding, especially an understanding of the motives and reasons behind one's actions.
Related formsin′sight•ful (ĭn′sīt′fəl, ĭn-sīt′-) adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.