What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Sight vs Signpost - What's the difference?

sight | signpost |

In transitive terms the difference between sight and signpost

is that sight is to take aim at while signpost is to direct (somebody) to services, resources, etc.

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

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    signpost

    English

    Alternative forms

    * sign-post

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a post bearing a sign that gives information on directions
  • (cryptic crosswords) A word or phrase within a clue that serves as an indicator, rather than being fodder.
  • * 2012 , David Astle, Puzzled: Secrets and clues from a life in words
    • In the first example — Dance revolutionised Burma'' — you know the middle word is the signpost as ''revolutionised is too long to be the fodder (or letters to scramble). And bang, out jumps RUMBA.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To install signposts on.
    • The route wasn't signposted , and we got lost on the way.
  • To direct (somebody) to services, resources, etc.
  • * 2008 , Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee, Valuing and Supporting Carers (volume 1, page 31)
    • We believe that some Carers' Centres already offer an effective 'first stop shop' for signposting carers to local organisations, services and benefits, and for providing ongoing support as carers' circumstances change.
  • To indicate logical progress of a discourse using words or phrases such as now, right, to recap, to sum up, as I was saying, etc.
  • * {{quote-web
    • , date = 2013-08-08 , author = Charlotte Mulcare , title = The lost mathematicians: Numbers in the (not so) dark ages , site = plus.maths.org , url = http://plus.maths.org/content/lost-mathematicians-numbers-not-so-dark-early-middle-ages , accessdate = 2013-09-08 }}
    Bede, never one to shrink from a challenge, focused his energies not only onto calculating Easter but also onto describing why the maths mattered as much as the result. In this, his elevated rhetoric is balanced by a very human enthusiasm — it's hard not to love a writer who signposts his core hypotheses with phrases such as 'now to gut the bowels of this question!'

    See also

    * fingerpost * guidepost * waymark

    Anagrams

    * *