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Glite Dictionary
🔮 To expect 🤝 To seek support
to look to

to look to

214 3.2
To feel excited about something that will happen
  • phrasal verb
  • /lʊk tu/
translation icon : esperar
  • You want to find a naturally habitable planet and must look to other systems to find one.
  • look to the future
  • look to improve

What I'm saying is I'm not looking to take time off.

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Examples

  • As summer approaches, I am looking to take a relaxing vacation by the beach.

  • And that's what we're looking to do: shake these people up a bit, get them motivated.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • And I guess I would ask that we start looking to make that real.

  • We need to actually look to science to develop.

  • Some people kind of look to the next thing right away.

  • You got to look to the future.

    The Right Stuff (1983)

  • Throughout our daily work, we constantly look to the evidence that is available.

    Academic text (2012)

  • To take advantage of the opportunity, we can look to the way jazz musicians create their communal sound.

    Academic text (1995)

  • When you are negotiating, you're looking to create a win win scenario.

  • Now I look to the future, and I know there's nothing that we can't do together.

    The Invisible (2007)

Synonyms

to expect
vsto look to
∞ 1.0

To think that something will happen

adds hopeful eagerness and often a sense of planned intent
to look forward to
vsto look to
867 2.4

To want something to happen and feel excited about it

emphasizes future hope or intention as well as eager feeling
to look forward
vsto look to
825 1.4

Feel happy and excited about something that will happen

is broader, adding a sense it will happen or planned intention beyond pleasure
to await
vsto look to
522 3.2

To wait for something with hope or excitement

is more about hoping and planning than only being ready
to anticipate
vsto look to
124 3.6

To feel excited or nervous about something that will happen

places more weight on hopeful planning and intention than on anxiety
to foresee
vsto look to
77 3.9

To know or expect something before it happens

is about hopeful desire and planning rather than prediction
to look for
vsto look to
49 1.0

To feel excited or worried about something that will happen

focuses more on hope that it will happen and planned intention

Antonyms

to look back
323 2.6

Think about the past, especially a time you remember

How Hopeful

to trust
344 1.0
to look to
214 3.2
to count on
700 1.8
to expect
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

look to infinitive
looked to past
looked to past participle
looking to present participle
looks to third person singular

Morphology

look + to

The verb 'look' conveys seeking or directing attention and the preposition 'to' marks direction toward a person or source, so a learner who knows both words can often infer the idea of turning to someone for help. However, the shift from literal visual/searching to the abstract sense 'rely on' is a metaphorical extension and not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Look to comes from a simple image: you turn your eyes toward the horizon or a coming event and watch for it to happen. So when you look to something, you are 'expecting' it or 'looking forward to' it.