sight read
More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations
present/ˈsaɪt ˌɹiːd/past/ˈsaɪt ˌɹɛd/
sight read verb: to perform a musical piece while reading it for the first time, without rehearsal.
Verb
sight read (third-person singular simple present sight reads, present participle sight reading, simple past and past participle sight read)
- To perform a musical piece while reading it for the first time, without rehearsal.
- I can sight read really simple music, but hard pieces need a lot of practice so I don't have to stop and figure out what I'm doing.
- To complete a video game level (particularly an autoscroller) while playing it for the first time, without practice.
Forms of sight read
| third-person singular present | sight reads |
|---|---|
| present participle | sight reading |
| past participle | sight read |
| past | sight read |
| alternative form | sightread |
Origin of sight read
From sight + read, in reference to not being able to rely on muscle memory developed through practice.
Words formed from sight read
Questions about sight read
- What does sight read mean?
- Sight read means to perform a musical piece while reading it for the first time, without rehearsal.
- What part of speech is sight read?
- Sight read is a verb.
- How do you pronounce sight read?
- Sight read is pronounced /ˈsaɪt ˌɹiːd/ (present).
- What is the past tense of sight read?
- The past tense of sight read is sight read.
Words near sight read in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sight read (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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Cite this entry: “sight read.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sight_read. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.