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Glite Dictionary
to look squarely at

to look squarely at

1 4.8
Face a person or problem directly without avoiding it
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : enfrentar
  • With help, we can look squarely at the truth of our circumstances.

Examples

  • Let us not fear to look squarely at the hatred that consumes and fills the lives of hundreds of Arabs who live around us.

    Blog text (26)

  • "I like mine sweet," she said, and she looked squarely at Stuart for the first time, as if she expected him to contradict.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The nearest man looked squarely at me and made no move to yield.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • And even for those of you who have an existing money practice, is there a place in your financial life where you shy away from looking squarely at your numbers?

    Blog text (3)

  • Aida raises her chin and looks squarely at the woman.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • He looked squarely at the Brigadier.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Then, looking squarely at the groom, he said, Menopus, you have been enchanted.

  • Perhaps even the appreciative approach needs to look squarely at what is wrong now in order to be grounded in asking what better might look like in the future.

    Blog text (19)

  • Janet tilted her head the small amount necessary to look squarely at him, meaning to make some sharp remark; and he kissed her.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • We must look squarely at the challenges we face in this project.

Synonyms

to confront
vsto look squarely at
310 4.1

Face someone directly in an angry or challenging way to accuse them

faces directly without hostility or avoidance
to stare down
vsto look squarely at
  • Informal
21 4.9

To look at someone without moving your eyes until they look away or give up

addresses directly rather than forcing submission by gaze

Antonyms

to avoid
∞ 1.0

To stay away from something or not do it to stop something bad from happening

to ignore
∞ 1.0

Choose not to pay attention to someone or something

How Direct

challenge
  • Formal
120 3.5
to confront
310 4.1
to look squarely at
1 4.8
to look at
∞ 1.0
to glance at
150 2.0

Surface Forms

look squarely at infinitive
looked squarely at past
looked squarely at past participle
looking squarely at present participle
looks squarely at third person singular

Morphology

look + squarely + at

The meaning is directly compositional: 'look' (direct one's eyes), modified by 'squarely' (plainly/directly) and the preposition 'at' yields facing or addressing something head-on. This pattern is cross-linguistically common and a B1 learner who knows the constituents would very likely infer 'confront or address directly' without prior exposure.

Etymology

Look squarely at comes from the image of standing with your body square to someone and looking straight at them. Being square means facing someone fully, so to look squarely at something is to face it directly and not avoid it.