Phrase guide

sight unseen

adj · 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • sīt′-ŭn-sēn
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːn

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not having seen the object beforehand.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Absolute construction reportedly first attested 1892.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: näkemätön — not seen beforehand
  • French: les yeux fermés — not seen beforehand
  • Hungarian: látatlanban — not seen beforehand
  • Italian: a scatola chiusa — not seen beforehand
  • Norwegian Bokmål: usett — not seen beforehand
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: usett — not seen beforehand
  • Polish: w ciemno — not seen beforehand
  • Polish: bez oglądania — not seen beforehand
  • Swedish: osedd — not seen beforehand