Meanings
alternative unsight unseen
- idiomaticnot comparableNot having seen the object beforehand.
When she wrote, asking me to take charge of her house while she went to Europe, I gladly consented, sight unseen.
1902, Myrtle Reed, chapter 5, in Lavender and Old Lace1 more example
More than $300 million worth of condominiums were sold in the new Time Warner complex sight unseen while the building was still under construction.
2005 August 2, Michiko Kakutani, “They'll Take Manhattan, for a Million or More”, in The New York Times, retrieved 01 Sep 2008
Origin
Absolute construction reportedly first attested 1892.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish näkemätön
- näkemätönnot seen beforehand
French les yeux fermés
- les yeux fermésnot seen beforehand
Hungarian látatlanban
- látatlanbannot seen beforehand
Italian a scatola chiusa
- a scatola chiusanot seen beforehand
Norwegian Bokmål usett
- usettnot seen beforehand
Polish w ciemno, bez oglądania
- w ciemnonot seen beforehand
- bez oglądanianot seen beforehand
Swedish osedd
- oseddnot seen beforehand
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with sight unseen
Cite this entry
sight unseen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sight%20unseen
“sight unseen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sight%20unseen. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sight unseen,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sight%20unseen.
Source: sight unseen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.