Word.ws English Dictionary

set one's sights

set one's sights verb: to give one's close attention to, especially as a goal, objective, or other object of special interest.

Verb

set one's sights (third-person singular simple present sets one's sights, present participle setting one's sights, simple past and past participle set one's sights)

  1. To give one's close attention to, especially as a goal, objective, or other object of special interest.
    • to set one's sights high
    • His daughter has set her sights on becoming a popular artist.

Forms of set one's sights

third-person singular presentsets one's sights
present participlesetting one's sights
past participleset one's sights
pastset one's sights
alternative formset sights

Questions about set one's sights

What does set one's sights mean?
Set one's sights means to give one's close attention to, especially as a goal, objective, or other object of special interest.
What part of speech is set one's sights?
Set one's sights is a verb.
What is the past tense of set one's sights?
The past tense of set one's sights is set one's sights.

Words near set one's sights in the dictionary

  1. set one's hand to
  2. set one's heart on
  3. set one's heart upon
  4. set one's house in order
  5. set one's shoulder to the wheel
  6. set one's sights
  7. set one's watch back
  8. set one's watch by someone
  9. set onto
  10. set operation
  11. set operations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: set one's sights (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-set one's sights on.ogg.

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