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Cite, Sight, and Site
As homophones—words that sound alike but are distinct— cite, sight, and site are easily confused, but they have different meanings, uses, and origins.
Cite is most often encountered in the sense of "to name in a citation"—that is, a line or short section taken from a piece of writing or a speech; it may also mean "to mention as an example" or "to order to appear in a court of law." Cite is from the Latin citare, "to rouse, call on, summon," source too of citation and recite.
Most of the senses of sight are concerned with seeing. A wonderful spectacle might be described as a sight, as might the general capacity to see anything ("my sight is not as good as it once was"). Sight is also used in a number of fixed phrases, such as "out of sight, out of mind," "sight unseen," and "set one's sights on." Sight comes from Old English gesiht, meaning "the faculty or act of sight, thing seen."
Site is most often concerned with location; it is related to situate, "to locate," and situation, "relative position or combination of circumstances at a particular moment." A building site is the place where a building is, or will be, located. In contemporary English, site is frequently used as a shortened form of website, to refer to the location of a group of web pages. Site comes from Latin situs, meaning "place, position, site."
Associating citation with cite, eyesight with sight, and situate with site may be helpful in applying these correctly.
Synonyms
Examples of sight in a Sentence
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024
All are Democrats, with nary a Republican in sight.
—Thomas Elias, The Mercury News, 8 Nov. 2024
Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 7 Nov. 2024
The spider, first spotted in Georgia almost a decade ago, were reported to have been sighted in Bucks County, Philadelphia on Sept. 5, according to Joro Watch, an interactive monitoring program developed by the University of Georgia's Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.
—Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2024
Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 26 Feb. 2024
In an earlier video shared on his Instagram Story, Cohen was baffled to discover a toy that shows flashcards with a sight word and photo for toddler daughter Lucy Eve, 20 months, also included a set of cards with car brands and their logos.
—Angela Andaloro, Peoplemag, 16 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for sight 
Dictionary Entries Near sight
Cite this Entry
“Sight.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sight. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
sight
1 of 2 nounsight
2 of 2 verbMedical Definition
sight
noun
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