Phrase guide

by one's lights

prep_phrase · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

prep_phrase

Meaning 1

According to one's understanding.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: in someone's eyes, in someone's view, to one's mind, in one's opinion

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Chiefly by the metaphor of lights as sources of illumination (e.g., lamps, lanterns, candles, torches) (thus, how something looks depends on the quality and quantity of the available light), but the sense of light as sightedness or vision is cognitively adjacent, setting up an interpretation of lights as referring to the eyes themselves (compare in my view); the potentially variable figurativeness behind punch someone's lights out is comparable here.