insight

English

Etymology

From Middle English insight, insiht (“insight, mental vision, intelligence, understanding”), equivalent to in- +‎ sight. Perhaps continuing Old English insiht (“narrative, argument, account”), from Proto-Germanic *insahtiz (“account, narrative, argument”). Compare West Frisian ynsjoch (“insight”), Dutch inzicht (“insight, awareness, view, opinion”), German Low German Insicht (“insight”), German Einsicht (“insight, knowledge, perception, understanding”), Danish indsigt (“insight”), Swedish insikt (“insight”), Icelandic innsýn (“insight”).

Pronunciation

• audio (US)

  (file)

• enPR: ĭn'sīt, IPA^(key): /ˈɪnsaɪ̯t/

Noun

insight (countable and uncountable, plural insights)

1. A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into.
   • 1980, Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage:

     The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources.

   • 2014 January, Claire Kramsch, “Language and Culture”, in AILA Review‎, volume 27, number 5, John Benjamins, →DOI, →ISSN, page 30:

     This paper surveys the research methods and approaches used in the multidisciplinary field of applied language studies or language education over the last fourty years. Drawing on insights gained in psycho- and sociolinguistics, educational linguistics and linguistic anthropology with regard to language and culture, it is organized around five major questions that concern language educators.

2. Power of acute observation and deduction

   Synonyms: penetration, discernment, perception

3. (marketing) Knowledge (usually derived from consumer understanding) that a company applies in order to make a product or brand perform better and be more appealing to customers
4. Intuitive apprehension of the inner nature of a thing or things; intuition.
5. (artificial intelligence) An extended understanding of a subject resulting from identification of relationships and behaviors within a model, context, or scenario.
6. (psychiatry) An individual's awareness of the nature and severity of one's mental illness.

   Synonym: nosognosia

Derived terms

• inflicted insight

Related terms

• outsight

Translations

Further reading

• “insight”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “insight”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Tignish, histing, shiting, sight in, sithing