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Prospect vs Sight - What's the difference?

prospect | sight | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between prospect and sight

is that prospect is the region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook while sight is the ability to see.

As verbs the difference between prospect and sight

is that prospect is to search, as for gold while sight is to register visually.

prospect

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The region which the eye overlooks at one time; view; scene; outlook.
  • * Milton
  • His eye discovers unaware / The goodly prospect of some foreign land.
  • A picturesque or panoramic view; a landscape; hence, a sketch of a landscape.
  • * Evelyn
  • I went to Putney to take prospects in crayon.
  • A position affording a fine view; a lookout.
  • * 1667 , Milton, Paradise Lost
  • Him God beholding from his prospect high.
  • Relative position of the front of a building or other structure; face; relative aspect.
  • * Bible, Ezekiel xl. 44
  • Their prospect was toward the south.
  • The act of looking forward; foresight; anticipation.
  • * John Locke
  • a very ill prospect of a future state
  • * Tillotson
  • Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, that lays designs only for a day, without any prospect to, or provision for, the remaining part of life?
  • The potential things that may come to pass, often favorable.
  • *
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2 , passage=We drove back to the office with some concern on my part at the prospect of so large a case. Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 2, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC
  • , title= Bulgaria 0-3 England , passage=And a further boost to England's qualification prospects came after the final whistle when Wales recorded a 2-1 home win over group rivals Montenegro, who Capello's men face in their final qualifier.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Joseph Stiglitz)
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=19, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Globalisation is about taxes too , passage=It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. […] It is the starving of the public sector which has been pivotal in America no longer being the land of opportunity – with a child's life prospects more dependent on the income and education of its parents than in other advanced countries.}}
  • A hope; a hopeful.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 10, author=Jeremy Wilson, work=Telegraph
  • , title= England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report , passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott. }}
  • (sports) Any player whose rights are owned by a top-level professional team, but who has yet to play a game for said team.
  • (music) The of an organ.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To search, as for gold.
  • sight

    English

    Noun

  • (in the singular) The ability to see.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thy sight is young, / And thou shalt read when mine begin to dazzle.
  • * Milton
  • O loss of sight , of thee I most complain!
  • The act of seeing; perception of objects by the eye; view.
  • to gain sight of land
  • * Bible, Acts i. 9
  • A cloud received him out of their sight .
  • Something seen.
  • * 2005 , Lesley Brown (translator), :
  • * He's a really remarkable man and it's very hard to get him in one's sights ;
  • Something worth seeing; a spectacle.
  • You really look a sight in that silly costume!
  • * Bible, Exodus iii. 3
  • Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight , why the bush is not burnt.
  • * Spenser
  • They never saw a sight so fair.
  • A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.
  • A small aperture through which objects are to be seen, and by which their direction is settled or ascertained.
  • the sight of a quadrant
  • * Shakespeare
  • their eyes of fire sparking through sights of steel
  • 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!
  • * Gower
  • a wonder sight of flowers
  • * 1913 ,
  • "If your mother put you in the pit at twelve, it's no reason why I should do the same with my lad."
    "Twelve! It wor a sight afore that!"
  • 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.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Why cloud they not their sights ?
  • Mental view; opinion; judgment.
  • In their sight it was harmless.
    (Wake)
  • * Bible, Luke xvi. 15
  • That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

    Synonyms

    * (ability to see) sense of sight, vision * (something seen) view * (aiming device) scope, peep sight

    Derived terms

    * sight for sore eyes * far-sighted * in sight * insight * long-sighted * near-sighted * not a pretty sight * at sight * on sight * out of sight * * outsight * second sight * short-sighted * sight cheque * sight draft * sight for sore eyes * sight gag * sight rhyme * sight unseen

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To register visually.
  • To get sight of (something).
  • * , chapter=4
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=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.}}
  • To apply sights to; to adjust the sights of; also, to give the proper elevation and direction to by means of a sight.
  • To take aim at.
  • Synonyms

    * (visually register) see * (get sight of) espy, glimpse, spot * (take aim) aim at, take aim at

    Derived terms

    * resight

    See also

    * see * vision

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

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