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to see things differently

to see things differently

9 3.7
Understand things in another way than other people
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : ver las cosas de manera diferente
  • After discussing the issue thoroughly, I realized that I see things differently than most of my colleagues.
  • see things differently now
  • people see things differently
  • started seeing things differently

It's not just time to to see things differently.

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Examples

  • The challenge is to figure out why others see things differently and then try to change that.

    Blog text (20)
  • As a competent female in the strength world, I see things differently than many of my male counterparts.

    Blog text (9)
  • But they might help me see things differently, right?

  • We all started seeing things differently.

  • I guess we see things differently.

  • Maybe you and I see things differently.

  • I see things differently now.

  • How easy it is for me to judge others who see things differently from me.

    Blog text (6)
  • I guess when you get to a certain age, you start to see things differently.

    Blog text (2)
  • We see things differently.

Synonyms

to differ
vsto see things differently
104 2.7

To have a different opinion from someone

is about holding a different viewpoint even without stating it aloud

How Different

to oppose
2.9
to see things differently
9 3.7
to see eye to eye
  • Informal
36 3.7

Surface Forms

seeing things differently present participle
sees things differently third person singular
seen things differently past participle

Morphology

see + thing + differently

The meaning 'to have a different opinion or perspective' is directly derivable from combining 'see' (perceive/understand) with 'things' (matters) and 'differently' (in another way). This compositional pattern is common across languages and follows a straightforward adjective/adverbial modification, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should understand it.

Etymology

See things differently comes from the simple picture of two people looking at the same object from different places, so each person sees the things in a different way. So, it now means 'to have a different opinion or point of view'.