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sight unseen

Idioms  

  1. Without having viewed the object in question, as in He bought the horse sight unseen. This seeming oxymoron—how can a sight, which means something seen, be not seen?—dates from the late 1800s.

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.

Sports media figures and podcast bros couldn’t simply dismiss San Francisco sight unseen because they had to be there for their jobs.

From Salon • Feb. 10, 2026

Jayla never thought she’d buy a house pretty much sight unseen, much less one off the coast of Italy.

From Slate • Feb. 1, 2026

Decades since Luna Luna was packed away, Goldberg rallied a team of investors to buy what might be left of the exhibition from the foundation - sight unseen.

From BBC • Dec. 22, 2024

Even sight unseen, there’s a lot this project has going for it.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 6, 2024

So twice a year, during the coldest and hottest months of the year, she returned to Tientsin to pay her respects and suffer sight unseen in her husband’s household.

From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.