Insight

//ˈɪnsaɪ̯t// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into. countable, uncountable

    "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."

  2. 2
    grasping the inner nature of things intuitively wordnet
  3. 3
    Power of acute observation and deduction countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    clear or deep perception of a situation wordnet
  5. 5
    Knowledge (usually derived from consumer understanding) that a company applies in order to make a product or brand perform better and be more appealing to customers countable, uncountable
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    the clear (and often sudden) understanding of a complex situation wordnet
  2. 7
    Intuitive apprehension of the inner nature of a thing or things; intuition. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    a feeling of understanding wordnet
  4. 9
    An extended understanding of a subject resulting from identification of relationships and behaviors within a model, context, or scenario. countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    An individual's awareness of the nature and severity of one's mental illness. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
penetrationpenetrationlighta priori knowledgeacuityacumen

Example

More examples

"This poem calls for great insight from the reader."

Etymology

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”).

Related phrases

inflicted insightconnected thoughtdeep understandingin citeinnate thoughtmental illnessunderstanding perception

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