sight unseen
4
7.2
- idiom
:
sin ver
- The next day, over the phone, I buy the house, sight unseen.
- buy sight unseen
- rent sight unseen
- purchase sight unseen
It was Bulgarian ammo and he had bid on it sight unseen.
- It was Bulgarian ammo and he had bid on it sight unseen.
- Oh, it's brand new yes, let's write an offer maybe even sight unseen.
Examples
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-Collectors buy stuff all the time, sight unseen.
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If I were in the market for an Edge, I would try it in person and not buy it sight unseen.
Blog text (25) -
The first 100 units had been sold, sight unseen, off the website.
Blog text (9) -
I went to a different school that I applied to sight unseen.
Blog text (2) -
Almost anyone can get one, sight unseen.
Blog text (8) -
It's definitely harder to buy fabrics sight unseen than it is to go into a store and feel them yourself.
Blog text (10) -
They purchased it sight unseen and before they ever went to Africa.
Academic text (2003) -
The would-be tenant wants to rent or purchase the property sight unseen.
Blog text (18) -
The school received a grant to pay for two sets of textbooks, but by the time funds were available, faculty had to order the books sight unseen.
Academic text (2011) -
After hearing great reviews, I decided to buy the car, sight unseen.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'sight' (seeing) with 'unseen' (not seen), so its meaning 'without having seen or inspected something' is directly inferable from the constituents. This compositional reading is straightforward and parallels common expressions in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will very likely understand the MWE.
Etymology
Sight unseen comes from the simple image of agreeing to something without ever looking at it. Sight means seeing and unseen means not seen, so the phrase is used when someone does or buys something 'without first seeing or checking it'.