sight

American  

[sahyt] / saɪt /

noun

• sights
  plural

1. the power or faculty of seeing; perception of objects by use of the eyes; vision.

2. an act, fact, or instance of seeing.

3. an instance of looking briefly; view; glimpse.

4. one's range of vision on some specific occasion.

   Land is in sight.

5. mental perception or regard; judgment.

6. something seen or worth seeing; spectacle.

   the sights of London.

7. Informal. something unusual, surprising, shocking, or distressing.

   They were a sight after the fight.

8. Commerce.

   1. presentation of a bill of exchange.

      a draft payable at two months after sight.

   2. a showing of goods, especially gems, held periodically for wholesalers.

9. Older Use. a great deal.

   It's a sight better to work than to starve.

10. an observation taken with a surveying, navigating, or other instrument to ascertain an exact position or direction.

11. any of various mechanical or optical viewing devices, as on a firearm or surveying instrument, for aiding the eye in aiming.

12. Obsolete. skill; insight.

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verb (used with object)

• sights,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sighted,
  past participle,  past
• sighting
  present participle

1. to see, glimpse, notice, or observe.

   to sight a ship to the north.

2. to take a sight or observation of (a stake, coastline, etc.), especially with surveying or navigating instruments.

3. to direct or aim by a sight or sights, as a firearm.

4. to provide with sights or adjust the sights of, as a gun.

verb (used without object)

• sights,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sighted,
  past participle,  past
• sighting
  present participle

1. to aim or observe through a sight.

2. to look carefully in a certain direction.

idioms

1. on / upon sight, immediately upon seeing.

   to shoot him on sight;

   to recognize someone on sight.

2. not by a long sight, definitely not.

   Is that all? Not by a long sight.

3. at first sight, at the first glimpse; at once.

   It was love at first sight.

4. in plain sight. see in plain sight.

5. sight for sore eyes, someone or something whose appearance on the scene is cause for relief or gladness.

6. sight unseen, without previous examination.

   to buy something sight unseen.

7. catch sight of, to get a glimpse of; espy.

   We caught sight of the lake below.

8. know by sight, to recognize (a person or thing) seen previously.

   I know him by sight, but I know nothing about him.

9. at sight,

   1. immediately upon seeing, especially without referring elsewhere for assurance, further information, etc..

      to translate something at sight.

   2. Commerce. on presentation.

      a draft payable at sight.

10. out of sight,

    1. beyond one's range of vision.

    2. Informal. beyond reason; exceedingly high.

       The price is out of sight.

    3. Slang. (often used as an interjection) fantastic; marvelous.

       a ceremony so glamorous it was out of sight.

       Oh wow! Out of sight!

sight British  

/ saɪt /

noun

1. the power or faculty of seeing; perception by the eyes; vision

2. the act or an instance of seeing

3. the range of vision

   within sight of land

4. range of mental vision; point of view; judgment

   in his sight she could do nothing wrong

5. a glimpse or view (esp in the phrases catch sight of, lose sight of )

6. anything that is seen

7. (often plural) anything worth seeing; spectacle

   the sights of London

8. informal anything unpleasant or undesirable to see

   his room was a sight!

9. any of various devices or instruments used to assist the eye in making alignments or directional observations, esp such a device used in aiming a gun

10. an observation or alignment made with such a device

11. an opportunity for observation

12. obsolete insight or skill

13. informal a great deal

    she's a sight too good for him

14. a person or thing that one is pleased or relieved to see

15. 1. as soon as seen

    2. on presentation

       a bill payable at sight

16. to be familiar with the appearance of without having personal acquaintance

    I know Mr Brown by sight but we have never spoken

17. informal on no account; not at all

18. 1. slang not visible

    2. extreme or very unusual

    3. ( as interj. )

       that's marvellous!

19. to have (a specified goal) in mind; aim for

20. without having seen the object at issue

    to buy a car sight unseen

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verb

1. (tr) to see, view, or glimpse

2. (tr)

   1. to furnish with a sight or sights

   2. to adjust the sight of

3. to aim (a firearm) using the sight

sight More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing sight

• at first blush (sight)
• at sight
• can't stand the sight of
• catch sight of
• heave into sight
• in sight
• know by sight
• lose sight of
• love at first sight
• lower one's sights
• on sight
• out of sight
• raise one's sights
• second sight
• see the sights
• set one's sights on
• twenty-twenty hindsight

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sighter
  noun
• undersight
  noun
• resight
  verb (used with object)
• sightable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sights
  plural

Participles

• sighting
  present
• sighted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sight
  simple
• sights
  simple
• have sighted
  perfect
• has sighted
  perfect
• am sighting
  progressive
• are sighting
  progressive
• is sighting
  progressive
• have been sighting
  perfect progressive
• has been sighting
  perfect progressive

Past

• sighted
  simple
• had sighted
  perfect
• was sighting
  progressive
• were sighting
  progressive
• had been sighting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sight
  simple
• will have sighted
  perfect
• will be sighting
  progressive
• will have been sighting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of sight

First recorded before 950; Middle English (noun); Old English sihth (more often gesihth, gesiht; cognate with German Gesicht face; cf. y-), derivative of sēon “to see ¹ ”; see -th ¹

Explanation

Your sight is your ability to see. If you're maneuvering through the house at midnight using your shins to locate the furniture, you'll appreciate your sight that much more. You could also turn a light on. Sight has many different senses. It can mean the range of your vision, as in when you freak out when your little puppy goes out of sight. You can "take in the sights," meaning you're seeing all the special attractions of a town (also known as sightseeing). Sight can also be a verb, as when you sight a celebrity at your local taco stand, or when you sight your target using the sight on your gun, before you shoot.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sight sights sighted sighting

"In other words, they want to continue our indefinite detention without any end in sight," she wrote.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

The war in Iran remains at a stalemate, with no end in sight.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

In the organization’s surveys, about 70 percent of parents cite experiencing financial strain, with little relief in sight.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026

And the ring that gives him powers is nowhere in sight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

On a normal night, the sight of the blazing four realms thrilled Clare.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Many CEOs are still grappling with how to get meaningful value from AI, but a growing number have their sights set on the next potentially disruptive business technology: quantum computing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

A third Conservative leader, Rishi Sunak, was in Count Binface's sights in the 2024 general election campaign.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Also: A buyout firm reportedly has Dayforce in its sights.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

But in recent months it is regular petrol stations that have been in Moscow's sights.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

Maybe the Americans should set their sights on beating the Russians to the moon, Kennedy suggested.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Of the three most common hammerhead species, the Smooth hammerhead is most commonly sighted, Talwar said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

Hammerheads were sighted off the Southern California coast in 2015, during the last strong El Niño cycle, California State University Long Beach Shark Lab expert Chris Lowe said in an email.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

The police said that shortly before midnight, "an unidentified flying object" was sighted.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

The Pakistani navy published an alert Friday warning that a mine had been sighted in the strait off Oman.

From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026

The blind man now held on to the arm of his sighted brother-in-law and told him many things about the sounds that they heard around them.

From "The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa" by Alexander Mccall Smith

She wasn’t about to bungle the sighting for her client, a photographer who’d flown to Africa for this exact moment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026

The sighting of even a solo grizzly “should be immediately reported” to the state.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

My first gray whale sighting was entirely accidental.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

Michael Sheen is set to star in a Welsh comedy film about a UFO sighting - after sharing his own encounter with "a phalanx of lights" in his hometown.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

Any sighting of a mathematical equation on a blackboard still makes me queasy.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Related Words

• appearance
• eye
• perception
• view
• vision