sight

/saɪt/

sight noun: the sense or faculty by which objects are perceived through the agency of light; the sense by which we see.

Noun

sight (countable and uncountable, plural sights)

(uncountable) The sense or faculty by which objects are perceived through the agency of light; the sense by which we see.
- Sight is a precious gift.
- He is losing his sight and now can barely read.
Synonyms:

vision, eyesight, ken, perception
An act, instance, opportunity or possibility of seeing; the perception of objects by the eye; view (see also idiomatic expressions such as in sight, out of sight, catch sight of, etc.)
- The sight of him in his new uniform made us all proud.
- I need to have sight of the certificate before proceeding.
Something seen.
- The sight in front of me seemed somehow familiar.
Synonyms:

view, vision
(in plural, often) Something worth seeing; a spectacle, either good or bad.
- We went to London and saw all the sights – Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, and so on.
- You really look a sight in that ridiculous costume!
(in plural, often) A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target; see also in one's sights.
- He's a really remarkable man and it's very hard to get him in one's sights; […]2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 236d
Synonyms:

peep sight, scope
A small aperture through which objects are to be seen, and by which their direction is settled or ascertained.
- the sight of a quadrant
- their eyes of fire sparking through sights of steelc. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
(colloquial) a great deal, a lot; frequently used to intensify a comparative.
- a sight of money
- This is a darn sight better than what I'm used to at home!
Synonyms:

brimful, load, ton, abundance, battalion, arseload, assload, bellyload, boatload, busload
In a drawing, picture, etc., that part of the surface, as of paper or canvas, which is within the frame or the border or margin. In a frame, the open space, the opening.
(obsolete) The instrument of seeing; the eye.
- Why cloude they not their ſights perpetually,c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry...
Mental view; opinion; judgment.
- In their sight it was harmless.
- a very heinous Sin in the Sight of God1720, William Wake, Principles of the Christian Religion in a Commentary on the Church Catechism
Synonyms:

determination, mind, view, award, censure, choice, opinion, conclusion, decision, deduction

Verb

sight (third-person singular simple present sights, present participle sighting, simple past and past participle sighted)

(transitive) To see; to get sight of (something); to register visually.
- I was on my way to the door, but all at once, through the fog in my head, I began to sight one reef that I hadn't paid any attention to afore.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
- to sight land from a ship
1. (transitive) To observe through, or as if through, a sight, to check the elevation, direction, levelness, or other characteristics of, especially when surveying or navigating.
  - Next a point of known elevation, preferably one of the triangulation stations, is sighted; the vertical angle is read and the horizontal distance is scaled from the point of the setup on the map to the point sighted.1912, John Herbert Farrell, Alfred Joseph Moses, Practical Field Geology, page 30
(transitive) To apply sights to; to adjust the sights of.
- to sight a rifle or a cannon
(intransitive, transitive) To observe or aim (at something) using a (gun) sight.
- Jim braced the gun and sighted, tried to pull the trigger. Beside him a body collapsed, limp. It was Max. A shot had gone through his brain. Jim stared down at him, numb with horror.2005 August 2, C. J. Cherryh, The Deep Beyond, Penguin, →ISBN
- So I sighted the deer with my .30—30 and fired at him. The bullet hit about ten yards below the deer. I realized that I had a problem with the gun so I aimed about ten yards above the deer as he was running and he dropped dead on the [spot].2009, James Wright, FBI: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity : an Autobiography, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 27
Synonyms:

aim at, take aim at

sight meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

sight in Hindi

something seen: दर्शन darśan, दीदार dīdār
something worth seeing: दृश्य dŕśya

sight in Tamil

sight, looking, glance; vision, eyesight: பார்வை pārvai
sight, view: காட்சி kāṭci
sight: தரிசனை taricaṉai, நாட்டம் nāṭṭam
sight, as of a great person or deity: தரிசனம் taricaṉam

sight in Marathi

sight, glance: नजर naj̈ar
sight: दृष्टी druṣṭī

sight in Urdu

sight; view; scene: منظر manzar
sight: آلوک ālok, روشنی rauśnī
sight, seeing: دید dīd, دیدار dīdār
sight, view: نظارہ nazāra

More languagesFewer languages

sight in Bengali: দর্শন dorśon, নজর nojor, জ্যোতি jōti
sight in Telugu: దృశ్యము dr̥śyamu
sight in Malayalam: കാഴ്ച്ച kāḻcca, ദൃശ്യം dr̥śyaṁ
sight in Kannada: ದರ್ಶನ darśana, ನೋಟ nōṭa
sight in Punjabi: ਦੀਦ dīd, ਦੀਦਾਰ dīdār, ਦਰਸ਼ਨ darśan, درشن darśan
sight in Odia: ଦୃଶ୍ୟ druśya
sight in Sanskrit: दृश्यम् dṛśyam
sight in Sinhala: දසුන dasuna
sight in Arabic: مَشْهَد mašhad, مَنْظَر manẓar
sight in Indonesian: nampak, bidikan, pisir
sight in Vietnamese: tầm nhìn, cảnh, nhìn thấy

Examples of sight in a sentence

to gain sight of land, to lose sight of the aircraft
Thy sight is young, / And thou shalt read when mine begin to dazzle.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies...
O loſs of ſight, of thee I moſt complain!1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […]...
And when hee had spoken these things, while they beheld, hee was taken vp, and a cloud receiued him out of their sight.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 1:9:
And Moses saide, I will nowe turne aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 3:3:

All 40 example sentences with sight

Synonyms of sight

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All synonyms of sight

Forms of sight

Noun
plural	sights
alternative pronunciation-spelling	sicht
Verb
third-person singular present	sights
present participle	sighting
past participle	sighted
past	sighted

Past tense of sight: sighted

Plural of sight: sights

Origin of sight

From Middle English sighte, from Old English sihþ (“something seen; vision”), from Proto-West Germanic *sihti (“seeing, sight”), equivalent to see + -t. Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian gazicht (“sight, vision; pupil”), Dutch gezicht (“face; sight, vision”), zicht (“sight, vision”), German Gesicht (“face; sight, vision”), Sicht (“view; sight; visibility”), Luxembourgish Gesiicht (“face”), Siicht (“view; sight”), Yiddish געזיכט (gezikht, “face”), Danish sigt (“sight; visibility”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk sikt (“visibility”), Swedish sikt (“visibility”), sikte (“sight”).

Phrases with sight

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Words that rhyme with sight

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Questions about sight

What does sight mean?: Sight means the sense or faculty by which objects are perceived through the agency of light; the sense by which we see.
What is sight in Hindi?: Sight in Hindi is दर्शन (darśan), दीदार (dīdār), दृश्य (dŕśya). See Sight meaning in Hindi.
How do you use sight in a sentence?: to gain sight of land, to lose sight of the aircraft
What part of speech is sight?: Sight can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce sight?: Sight is pronounced /saɪt/.
What is the plural of sight?: The plural of sight is sights.

Words near sight in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-sight.ogg.

Cite this entry: “sight.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sight. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.