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Glance vs See - What's the difference?

glance | see |

As nouns the difference between glance and see

is that glance is a brief or cursory look while see is .

As a verb glance

is to look briefly (at something).

glance

English

Alternative forms

* glaunce (obsolete)

Verb

(glanc)
  • To look briefly (at something).
  • She glanced at her reflection as she passed the mirror.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, / Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.
  • To graze a surface.
  • To sparkle.
  • The spring sunlight was glancing on the water of the pond.
  • * Tennyson
  • From art, from nature, from the schools, / Let random influences glance , / Like light in many a shivered lance, / That breaks about the dappled pools.
  • To move quickly, appearing and disappearing rapidly; to be visible only for an instant at a time; to move interruptedly; to twinkle.
  • * Macaulay
  • And all along the forum and up the sacred seat, / His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small glancing feet.
  • To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Your arrow hath glanced .
  • * Milton
  • On me the curse aslope / Glanced on the ground.
  • (soccer) To hit lightly with the head, make a deft header.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=January 18 , author= , title=Wolverhampton 5 - 0 Doncaster , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Doncaster paid the price two minutes later when Doyle sent Hunt away down the left and his pinpoint cross was glanced in by Fletcher for his sixth goal of the season. }}
  • To make an incidental or passing reflection; to allude; to hint; often with at .
  • * Shakespeare
  • Wherein obscurely / Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • He glanced at a certain reverend doctor.

    Synonyms

    * (To look briefly) glimpse

    Derived terms

    * glance off * glance over * glance away * glanceable

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A brief or cursory look.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Dart not scornful glances from those eyes.
  • * 1900 , , The House Behind the Cedars , Chapter I,
  • Warwick left the undertaker's shop and retraced his steps until he had passed the lawyer's office, toward which he threw an affectionate glance .
  • *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.}}
  • A deflection.
  • (label) A stroke in which the ball is deflected to one side.
  • A sudden flash of light or splendour.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • swift as the lightning glance
  • An incidental or passing thought or allusion.
  • * (William Cowper) (1731-1800)
  • How fleet is a glance of the mind.
  • (label) Any of various sulphides, mostly dark-coloured, which have a brilliant metallic lustre.
  • (label) Glance coal.
  • Derived terms
    * at a glance * at first glance * coal glance * cobalt glance * copper glance * steal a glance * wood glance

    see

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To perceive or detect with the eyes, or as if by sight.
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
  • , passage=But Richmond
  • # To witness or observe by personal experience.
  • #* (Bible), (w) viii. 51
  • Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
  • To form a mental picture of.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-23, author=(Mark Cocker)
  • , volume=189, issue=11, page=28, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Wings of Desire , passage=It is not just that we see birds as little versions of ourselves. It is also that, at the same time, they stand outside any moral process. They are utterly indifferent. This absolute oblivion on their part, this lack of sharing, is powerful.}}
  • # (label) To understand.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic
  • # To come to a realization of having been mistaken or misled.
  • (label) To meet, to visit.
  • # To have an interview with; especially, to make a call upon; to visit.
  • #* (Bible), 1 (w) xv. 35
  • And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death.
  • # To date frequently.
  • (label) To ensure that something happens, especially while witnessing it.
  • (label) To respond to another player's bet with a bet of equal value.
  • To foresee, predict, or prophesy.
  • To determine by trial or experiment; to find out (if'' or ''whether ).
  • (used in the imperative ) Used to emphasise a proposition.
  • Synonyms
    * (perceive with the eyes) behold, descry, espy, observe, view * (understand) follow, get, understand
    Derived terms
    * aftersee * besee * foresee * forsee * insee * missee * outsee * oversee * see a man about a dog * see for * see things * see someone right * see stars * see the light of day * see through * see-through * see with one's own eyes * undersee * unsee

    See also

    * look * sight * watch

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A diocese, archdiocese; a region of a church, generally headed by a bishop, especially an archbishop.
  • The office of a bishop or archbishop; bishopric or archbishopric
  • A seat; a site; a place where sovereign power is exercised.
  • * Spenser
  • Jove laughed on Venus from his sovereign see .
    Derived terms
    * Holy See

    See also

    * cathedra * cathedral * chair * throne

    Statistics

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