sight-read

American  

[sahyt-reed] / ˈsaɪtˌrid /

verb (used with or without object)

sight-read, sight-reading

1. to read, play, or sing without previous practice, rehearsal, or study of the material to be treated.

   to sight-read music; to sight-read another language.

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sight-read British  

/ ˈsaɪtˌriːd /

verb

1. to sing or play (music in a printed or written form) without previous preparation

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Other Word Forms

• sight-reader noun
• sight-reading noun

Etymology

Origin of sight-read

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

“It’s not one of those parts where you can just, if you’re a good player, sight-read it.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2025

In an early scene, she refers to the ability to sight-read music: to pick up a page of sheet music and play, without rehearsal or fear.

From Washington Post • Feb. 22, 2023

He attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, learned to sight-read and essentially taught himself the skills of a master guitarist.

From New York Times • Aug. 12, 2022

In the last years of her life, when she had macular degeneration, it was sad because she could never sight-read in that same way that she could when I was a child.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 28, 2019

They could not help him sight-read a new tune from scratch.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall