noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The rear sight of a firearm.

   "Holonym: iron sights"

2. 2
   A measurement or reading taken back towards a point of known elevation, used to calculate the height of the surveying instrument (theodolite, transit, total station).
3. 3
   A measurement of a previously shot point, used to set the angle to zero when occupying a new position.

Verb

1. 1
   To shoot a backsight.

Synonyms

All synonyms

hindsight

Antonyms

All antonyms

foresight

Etymology

From back + sight.

Related phrases

blow a backsight

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.