insight

From Middle English insight, insiht (“insight, mental vision, intelligence, understanding”), from in- (from Old English) + sight, siht (“sight, vision”), or from Old English insiht (“narrative, argument, account”). Compare Dutch inzicht (“insight, awareness, view, opinion”), Danish indsigt, German Einsicht (“insight, knowledge, perception, understanding”). More at in, sight.

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• enPR: ĭn'sīt, IPA^(key): /ˈɪnsaɪt/

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.

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.

• outsight

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

• Tignish, histing, shiting, sight in, sithing