Definition
nounA sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into.
nounPower of acute observation and deduction.
Sentence Examples
This poem calls for great insight from the reader.
He gave them the benefit of his insight.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English insight, insiht (“insight, mental vision, intelligence, understanding”), equivalent to in- + sight. Perhaps continuing Old English insiht (“narrative, argument, account”), from Proto-Germanic *insahtiz (“account, narrative, argument”). Compare West Frisian ynsjoch (“insight”), Dutch inzicht (“insight, awareness, view, opinion”), German Low German Insicht (“insight”), German Einsicht (“insight, knowledge, perception, understanding”), Danish indsigt (“insight”), Swedish insikt (“insight”), Icelandic innsýn (“insight”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources."
— 1980, Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage:
"This paper surveys the research methods and approaches used in the multidisciplinary field of applied language studies or language education over the last fourty^([sic]) years. Drawing on insights gained in psycho- and sociolinguistics, educational linguistics and linguistic anthropology with regard to language and culture, it is organized around five major questions that concern language educators."
— 2014 January 26, Claire Kramsch, “Language and Culture”, in AILA Review, volume 27, number 5, John Benjamins, →DOI, →ISSN, page 30:
"Corbett has an interesting insight into the reactions of his colleagues from diverse backgrounds: "The ex-British Rail people responded much better than those from the private sector. In terms of helping, the private sector people headed for the hills, while the railway people, like Chris Leah [the operations director] and Dick Fearn [the Midlands Zone director] moved towards the gunfire. The non-railway people on the whole didn't.""
— 2026 March 4, Christian Wolmar, “Railtrack: what really happened”, in RAIL, number 1056, page 52: