Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

point of view

American  
[point uhv vyoo] / ˈpɔɪnt əv ˈvju /

noun

  1. a specified or stated manner of consideration or appraisal; standpoint: POV

    from the point of view of a doctor.

  2. an opinion, attitude, or judgment: POV

    He refuses to change his point of view in the matter.

  3. the position of the narrator in relation to the story, as indicated by the narrator's outlook from which the events are depicted and by the attitude toward the characters. POV

  4. Movies. a method of shooting a scene or film that expresses the attitude of the director or writer toward the material or of a character in a scene. POV


point of view British  

noun

  1. a position from which someone or something is observed

  2. a mental viewpoint or attitude

  3. the mental position from which a story is observed or narrated

    the omniscient point of view

"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

point of view Idioms  
  1. An attitude or standpoint, how one sees or thinks of something. For example, From the manufacturer's point of view, the critical issue is cost. This expression, originally alluding to one's vantage point in seeing a building or painting or other object, dates from the early 1700s.


Etymology

Origin of point of view

First recorded in 1720–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It didn’t make any sense from the legal point of view that they would receive this much punishment for something that was so minimal.

From Salon Jul. 20, 2026

Half the story is told from Julia’s point of view; the other half is set in the nightmare world of Bernie’s brain—which isn’t as dead as the company suggests.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 15, 2026

Graham replied: “Well, OK, from my point of view, if you know anything about me, it’d be odd not to do this.”

From Slate Jul. 13, 2026

"He was a very good president from my point of view," Graham told the BBC in 2023.

From BBC Jul. 12, 2026

Every tick of his stopwatch takes more than a second from a stationary observer’s point of view.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training