sightseeing
Americannoun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of sightseeing
Explanation
Sightseeing is what you do when you travel somewhere and spend time visiting museums, sites, or neighborhoods. You might dream of sightseeing in Paris someday. Sightseeing is an activity that's almost always done in an unfamiliar place, and usually during a vacation. Going sightseeing in the city where you live isn't impossible, though—you could spend a day taking tours, visiting historic sites, and looking at your city the way a tourist would. Sightseeing has been in use since the 19th century, from the idea of "seeing the sights."
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.
She’d booked her first trip to the Grand Canyon for the coming summer, and she wanted to walk without pain while sightseeing.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
Someone estimated costs at $1,000 per day per person — staying at 4- or 5-star hotels, using private transportation and avoiding lines for sightseeing.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 9, 2026
In 2024, a Takumi Enterprise sightseeing helicopter flying over Mount Aso made an emergency landing, injuring the three people on board.
From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026
Riding Amtrak’s California Zephyr route, it turns out, is equal parts sightseeing extravaganza and endurance test.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025
“Poor little thing. She just can’t figure what to do with herself when she’s got some time on her hands. So I was thinking she’d get a lot out of this little sightseeing trip.”
From "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant
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.
