sight-read

[ sahyt-reed ]

/ ˈsaɪtˌrid /

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verb (used with or without object), sight-read

[sahyt-red], /ˈsaɪt rɛd/, sight-read·ing

[sahyt-ree-ding]. /ˈsaɪtˌri dɪŋ/.

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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Origin of sight-read

First recorded in 1900–05

OTHER WORDS FROM sight-read

sight-read·er

[sahyt-ree-der], /ˈsaɪtˌri dər/, noun

Words nearby sight-read

sighthound, sighting, sightless, sightline, sightly, sight-read, sight rhyme, sight screen, sightsee, sightseeing, sight unseen

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sight-read in a sentence

There was nobody that I read who was like, “This is just… whatever.”
‘Archer’ Creator Adam Reed Spills Season 6 Secrets, From Surreal Plotlines to Life Post-ISIS|Marlow Stern|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
If you read the reactions, she was billed as ‘Beauty and Brains.’
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Another read: “We need leaders who will stand against Common Core.”
Rand Paul’s Passive-Aggressive Trolling Campaign|Olivia Nuzzi|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Can you talk about some of the books you read that you think are particularly good on the political history of the 1960s?
Thank Congress, Not LBJ for Great Society|Julian Zelizer, Scott Porch|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST

President Harry Truman kept a sign on his desk that read: “The Buck Stops Here.”
The ‘No Child’ Rewrite Threatens Your Kids’ Future|Jonah Edelman|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And he was gone, and out of sight on the swift galloping Benito, before Father Gaspara bethought himself.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
But Mrs. Dodd, the present vicar's wife, retained the precious prerogative of choosing the book to be read at the monthly Dorcas.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
A little boy of four was moved to passionate grief at the sight of a dead dog taken from a pond.
Children's Ways|James Sully
But at the instant I caught a sight of my counterfeit presentment in a shop window, and veiled my haughty crest.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
Now first we shall want our pupil to understand, speak, read and write the mother tongue well.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

British Dictionary definitions for sight-read

sight-read

/ (ˈsaɪtˌriːd) /

verb -reads, -reading or -read (-ˌrɛd)

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

Derived forms of sight-read

sight-reader, nounsight-reading, noun

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