on sight

See also: onsight

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

on sight

1. (idiomatic) Immediately when sighted.

   I recognized him on sight.

   • 1962 October, “Talking of Trains: The collisions at Connington”, in Modern Railways, page 232:

     "Permissive" working allows more than one train to be in a block section at one time but trains must be run at low speed in order to stop on sight behind the train in front. Such working is often authorised to allow freight trains to "bunch" together to await a path through a bottleneck instead of being strung out over several block sections, as would be necessary if absolute working were in force.

   • 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 10:12 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron‎^[1], archived from the original on 29 November 2024:

     Somewhat unsurprisingly, unleashing the most powerful navy on the planet with carte blanche to exterminate slavers on sight saw a dramatic and sudden collapse in slaver numbers in the late 1840s and early 1850s.

2. (by extension) Immediately upon coming to one's attention.

   He dismissed the idea on sight.

Translations

immediately when sighted

• German: gleich (de), sofort (de), unmittelbar (de), beim ersten Anblick, auf den ersten Blick
• Italian: a vista
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} vid första anblick
• Turkish: görür görmez

when it comes to one's attention

• French: à vue (fr)
• German: gleich (de), sofort (de), unmittelbar (de)

Noun

on sight (plural on sights)

1. (climbing) An ascent of a route without falling, on the first attempt, without having been advised on it or having seen it prior.

See also

• on site, on-site, onsite

Anagrams

• hosting, noights, thingos, toshing