vista

vis·ta
V4I1S1T1A1
/ˈvɪstə//ˈviːstə/

noun

A distant view or prospect, especially one seen through some opening, avenue or passage.

“dim vistas of the past”

CommonScrabble 8

Meanings

vista1

nounvista (plural vistas)

plural vistas

  1. A distant view or prospect, especially one seen through some opening, avenue or passage.

    The sun soon broke forth from that one dark cloud, gradually melting into light; and the sunbeams and the glittering rain went driving together through the forest glades—those long vistas, of which the slender deer seemed the sole habitants.

    1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 271
    1 more example

    We had our reward for our high camp and early start, for the sky was still clear, the view magnificent, with fresh vistas to the north of mountains in Tibet, of Gurla Mandhata, massive, majestic to the northeast, and further to the north, a distant pyramid, Kailash, most holy of all mountains in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology.

    1999, Harish Kapadia, “Ascents in the Panch Chuli Group”, in Across Peaks & Passes in Kumaun Himalaya, New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 136
  2. A site offering such a view.
  3. figurativelyA vision; a view presented to the mind in prospect or in retrospect by the imagination.

    dim vistas of the past

    3 more examples

    a vista of pleasure to come

    Open up vistas of expansion into hitherto untapped markets.

    And while our discourse might be a disaster area, the imaginative vistas of the Internet are far more vast than the modest plot of our feeds.

    2017 December 27, Michael Andor Brodeur, “The meme class of 2017”, in The Boston Globe
verbvista (third-person singular simple present vistas, present participle vistaing, simple past and past participle vistaed)

present singular third person vistas · participle present vistaing · participle past vistaed · past vistaed

  1. transitiveTo make a vista or landscape of.

    The night had now closed in, and its darkness was only relieved by the wan lamps that vistaed the streets, and a few dim stars that struggled through the reeking haze that curtained the great city.

    1896, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Eugene Aram

Vista2

Vista3

proper noun
  1. abbreviationellipsiscomputingEllipsis of Windows Vista.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe visual percept of a region

Broader
visual perceptvisual image

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

vista · noun, verb

  1. Latinvidēre“to see”
  2. Italianvista“view, sight”
  3. Englishvista

Borrowed from Italian vista (“view, sight”), from visto, past participle of vedere (“to see”), from Latin vidēre (“to see”). Compare vision, video, visa.

Full word history & related roots →

Vista · proper noun

  1. Spanishvista“view”
  2. EnglishVista

From Spanish vista (“view”). One settler in the Vista area, John A. Frazier, applied to open the first post office and after several attempts to name the city (Frazier and Buena Vista were already taken), Frazier finally chose the name Vista.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian далечен изглед, перспектива
  • далечен изглед (dalečen izgled)distant view or prospect
  • перспектива (perspektiva)distant view or prospect
Danish udsigt, vue
  • udsigtdistant view or prospect
  • vuedistant view or prospect
Dutch uitzicht
  • uitzichtdistant view or prospect
Finnish näkymä, näkymä
  • näkymädistant view or prospect
  • näkymäfiguratively: vision
  • tulevaisuudennäkymäfiguratively: vision
  • mielikuvafiguratively: vision
French vue, point de vue
  • vuedistant view or prospect
  • point de vuesite offering such a view
German Aussicht
  • Aussichtdistant view or prospect
Greek θέα, προοπτική
  • θέα (théa)distant view or prospect
  • προοπτική (prooptikí)distant view or prospect
  • άποψη (ápopsi)distant view or prospect
  • ορίζοντας (orízontas)figuratively: vision
Hindi नज़ारा, दृश्य
  • नज़ारा (nazārā)distant view or prospect
  • दृश्य (dŕśya)distant view or prospect
Italian prospettiva, vista
  • prospettivadistant view or prospect
  • vistadistant view or prospect
Polish widok
  • widokdistant view or prospect
Portuguese vista, vista
  • vistadistant view or prospect
  • vistasite offering such a view
Romanian perspectivă, vedere
  • perspectivădistant view or prospect
  • vederedistant view or prospect
  • vederesite offering such a view
Russian вид, перспекти́ва
  • вид (vid)distant view or prospect
  • перспекти́ва (perspektíva)distant view or prospect
Spanish vista, vista
  • vistadistant view or prospect
  • vistasite offering such a view
Swedish utsikt
  • utsiktdistant view or prospect

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with vista

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

vista. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vista

MLA

“vista.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vista. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vista,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vista.

Source: vista on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.