Word.ws English Dictionary

by eye

by eye prepositional phrase: by estimation, based on a visual inspection, without accurate measurement.

Prepositional phrase

  1. By estimation, based on a visual inspection, without accurate measurement.
    • Thus given a straight line it is very easy to construct a smaller or a greater than it by eye, not just because this is a broad sort of distinction, but because it also involves only one comparison.1984, Andrew Barker, Greek Musical Writings: Volume 2, Harmonic and Acoustic Theory, page 277

Questions about by eye

What does by eye mean?
By eye means by estimation, based on a visual inspection, without accurate measurement.
What part of speech is by eye?
By eye is a prepositional phrase.

Words near by eye in the dictionary

  1. by degrees
  2. by design
  3. by dint of
  4. by ear
  5. by extension
  6. by eye
  7. by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail
  8. by fair means or foul
  9. by far
  10. by far and away
  11. by foot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: by eye (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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