Sight and see?

[Belly T]

Sight and see as a verb and have similar meanings but me teacher told me they don't, do they?

[Noego]

Well according to my dictionary;

Sight: (v.)

"If you sight someone or something, you suddenly see them, often briefly."

The security forces sighted a group of young men that had crossed the
border..."

As for "see":

When you see something, you notice it using your eyes.


"You can't see colours at night...
I saw a man making his way towards me...
She can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste...
As he neared the farm, he saw that a police car was parked outside it...
Did you see what happened?"

From what I understand, sight and see can both mean to see something briefly. But sight can't be used for longer observation periods.

In other words:

You wouldn't be able to say:

"You can't sight colors at night."

[Andrew Whitehead]

'sight' has a directional element to it, and implies that the thing sighted is important.

It is usually used for surveying, navigating, or aiming a weapon.

"I have sighted the enemy" - I know where they are so we can aim our guns at them

"I have seen the enemy" - I know what they look like, but I don't where they are.

"I have sighted a ship" - it is over there and we had better avoid it

'"I have seen a ship" - it is going away from us so it isn't important