second sight

noun

1. the faculty of seeing future events; clairvoyance.

second sight

noun

1. the alleged ability to foresee the future, see actions taking place elsewhere, etc; clairvoyance

Other Word Forms

• secondsighted adjective
• secondsightedness noun
• second-sightedness noun
• second-sighted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of second sight¹

First recorded in 1610–20

Idioms and Phrases

Clairvoyance, as in Jane must have second sight; she knew exactly where Dad had mislaid his keys. This expression, alluding to the supposed power of someone to perceive an event in the future or distance as though actually present, dates from the early 1600s.

Example Sentences

Dairymaids were said to have a kind of second sight, transforming milk into something alive and lasting with nothing more than time, touch, and faith in invisible powers.

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Dessers volleyed over Abdallah Sima's cross with his first chance of the game, but the Nigeria international made no mistake with his second sight of goal.

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In “The OA,” a fable-like iteration of the resurrection theme, the heroine has perished many times over, blind in one incarnation but gifted in another with an extraordinary second sight.

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There are the blind seers, whose loss of vision affords them a spiritual second sight, like Tiresias from Greek mythology and Neo from the “Matrix” series.

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The Christian churches could not abandon their belief in miracles and angels, but Christians could certainly retreat from their insistence on the reality of witchcraft, demonic possession, poltergeists, levitation and second sight.

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