sight-read
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sight-read
First recorded in 1900–05
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.
See Examples For:
“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
He can sight-read multisyllabic words, but he can’t always figure out why a character in a story acted the way they did.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2020
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
She repeatedly announced plans to study classical piano and finally learn to sight-read music at the Juilliard School, but she never enrolled.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2018
They could not help him sight-read a new tune from scratch.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
"My least favourite thing in music exams was sight-reading, so these guys are just amazing," adds Smith.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
A natural leader, popular camp veteran and excellent technical musician, she is assigned to help Andi improve her sight-reading skills.
From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2022
"In this exam: She needs to play three pieces by memory, two pieces read music, technique requirements in major, minor scales, ear training, sight-reading, rhythm clap back, listening and playback and etc."
From Fox News ● Sep. 5, 2021
When she entered NYU and had her first big audition, she botched her sight-reading despite years of practice, setting her on a different course — to teach English as a second language.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 22, 2020
My sight-reading was terrible today, and I cannot bear to be scolded.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
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.
