insight

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A sight or view of the interior of anything; a deep inspection or view; introspection; frequently used with into.

   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. 2
   noun

   Power of acute observation and deduction.

   Corbett has an interesting insight into the reactions of his colleagues from diverse backgrounds: "The ex-British Rail people responded much better than those from the private sector. In terms of helping, the private sector people headed for the hills, while the railway people, like Chris Leah [the operations director] and Dick Fearn [the Midlands Zone director] moved towards the gunfire. The non-railway people on the whole didn't."

3. 3
   noun

   grasping the inner nature of things intuitively

4. 4
   noun

   clear or deep perception of a situation

5. 5
   noun

   the clear (and often sudden) understanding of a complex situation

6. 6
   noun

   a feeling of understanding

7. 7
   noun

   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

8. 8
   noun

   Intuitive apprehension of the inner nature of a thing or things; intuition.

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”).