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see

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

see
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsi

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight

    “You have to be a good observer to see all the details.”

  2. Perceive (an idea or situation) mentally

  3. Perceive or be contemporaneous with

  4. transitive

    To perceive or detect someone or something with the eyes, or as if by sight.

  5. To witness or observe by personal experience.

  6. To form a mental picture of.

noun

  1. A diocese, archdiocese; a region of a church, generally headed by a bishop or an archbishop.

  2. The office of a bishop or archbishop.

  3. A seat; a site; a place where sovereign power is exercised.

  4. The name of the Latin-script letter C/c.

  5. Alternative letter-case form of see.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight

Used this way, see is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“You have to be a good observer to see all the details.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use see

  • “I'll probably see you at the meeting.”verb
  • “You have to be a good observer to see all the details.”verb
  • “I want to see whether she speaks French.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Mental

see figuresee fig

Other combinations

see chaptersee tablenow see

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: perceive by sight

meet

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.