see

verb

1 become aware of sth using your eyes

ADVERB

▪ clearly, easily, plainly

▪ dimly, faintly

▪ barely, hardly

▪

I could hardly see because of the smoke.

▪ just

▪

We could just see the hotel in the distance.

▪ suddenly

▪ first-hand, personally

▪

He saw first-hand the impact of colonialism.

▪ commonly

▪

This problem is commonly seen in young adults.

VERB + SEE

▪ be able to, can

▪

I could see the boat clearly now.

▪ go to

▪

I went to see a movie.

▪ get to

▪

I finally got to see them in concert.

▪ turn around to, turn to

▪

She turned to see who it was.

▪ be amazed to, be shocked to, be surprised to

▪

He was surprised to see Martha standing there.

▪ be relieved to

▪ be keen to (esp. BrE)

▪ be delighted, be glad to, be happy to, be overjoyed to, be pleased to

▪

I'm glad to see that you're keeping well.

▪ be sad to

▪ would love to

▪

I'd love to see her win the gold medal.

▪ wait to

▪

I can't wait to see his face!

▪

We'll have to wait to see if sales hold up.

▪ expect to

▪

We expect to see an increase of 50–60%.

▪ be likely to

▪ be great to, be nice to

▪

It's nice to see the children playing together.

▪ be interesting to

▪ let sb

▪

A dolphin? Oh, let me see!

▪

Let me see the evidence!

PREPOSITION

▪ into

▪

She claims that she can see into the future.

PHRASES

▪ get a/the chance to see, get an/the opportunity to see

▪

I also got a chance to see what she looked like.

▪ have a/the chance to see, have an/the opportunity to see

▪ only to see

▪

I looked up, only to see Tommy chatting to someone.

▪ see at a glance

▪

You can see at a glance if all is well.

▪ see with the naked eye

▪

The star is bright enough to see with the naked eye.

▪ see (sth) with your own eyes

▪

I know it's hard to believe but I saw it with my own eyes.

2 visit sb

VERB + SEE

▪ come to

▪

Veronica came to see him in prison.

▪ come around to, come over to

▪

Logan came around to see me about a job.

▪

He came over to see me after my surgery.

▪ go to

▪

She went to see the doctor about it.

▪ want to, wish to

▪

What is it you want to see me about?

▪ be here to

▪

I'm here to see Lisa Daniels.

PREPOSITION

▪ about

▪

She's gone to see the mechanic about getting her car repaired.

3 understand/realize sth

VERB + SEE

▪ can

▪

I can see why you were so angry about it.

▪ cannot, do not

▪

I don't see why she should get more money than the others.

▪ be easy to

▪ be difficult to, be hard to

▪

It is difficult to see how to get around this problem.

▪ fail to

▪

I fail to see how this idea will help anyone.

4 find out

VERB + SEE

▪ want to

▪

I want to see how they'll react.

▪ come over, go over, look over

▪

He came over to see what was going on.

▪ let sb

▪

Let's see what happens.

PHRASES

▪ go and see

▪

‘Is the taxi here?’ ‘I'll just go and see.’

▪ wait and see

▪

‘Is he going to get better?’ ‘I don't know, we'll just have to wait and see.’

See is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑century, ↑decade, ↑observer, ↑viewer, ↑year

See is used with these nouns as the object: ↑action, ↑advert, ↑advertisement, ↑adviser, ↑article, ↑attraction, ↑beginning, ↑benefit, ↑blossom, ↑broadcast, ↑cathedral, ↑chance, ↑change, ↑clip, ↑collection, ↑combat, ↑commercial, ↑commotion, ↑connection, ↑conspiracy, ↑continuation, ↑correlation, ↑counsellor, ↑cruelty, ↑culmination, ↑danger, ↑dawn, ↑day, ↑decline, ↑demise, ↑demonstration, ↑destruction, ↑deterioration, ↑diagram, ↑difference, ↑dip, ↑disappointment, ↑disbelief, ↑display, ↑distinction, ↑distress, ↑documentary, ↑downturn, ↑duty, ↑DVD, ↑emergence, ↑end, ↑episode, ↑erosion, ↑escalation, ↑establishment, ↑evidence, ↑example, ↑exhibit, ↑exhibition, ↑explosion, ↑expression, ↑extent, ↑face, ↑fall, ↑fault, ↑fight, ↑figure, ↑film, ↑flare, ↑flash, ↑flaw, ↑flicker, ↑folly, ↑footprint, ↑futility, ↑game, ↑gap, ↑ghost, ↑glint, ↑headlights, ↑headline, ↑hesitation, ↑hope, ↑horror, ↑humour, ↑hurt, ↑importance, ↑improvement, ↑incident, ↑inconsistency, ↑increase, ↑indication, ↑influx, ↑injustice, ↑issue, ↑justification, ↑likeness, ↑logic, ↑match, ↑memo, ↑menu, ↑merit, ↑miracle, ↑mirage, ↑motive, ↑movie, ↑necessity, ↑need, ↑news, ↑niche, ↑notice, ↑opportunity, ↑outline, ↑parallel, ↑patient, ↑performance, ↑play, ↑plight, ↑point, ↑poll, ↑possibility, ↑post, ↑posting, ↑potential, ↑preview, ↑problem, ↑programme, ↑progress, ↑proof, ↑reason, ↑recovery, ↑reduction, ↑reflection, ↑relationship, ↑relevance, ↑replay, ↑report, ↑resemblance, ↑review, ↑revival, ↑revolution, ↑sadness, ↑scenery, ↑sense, ↑service, ↑shape, ↑shift, ↑show, ↑showing, ↑side, ↑sight, ↑sign, ↑silhouette, ↑similarity, ↑snippet, ↑specialist, ↑spectre, ↑suffering, ↑surgeon, ↑table, ↑talent, ↑tape, ↑thing, ↑tragedy, ↑trail, ↑trailer, ↑trend, ↑twinkle, ↑upturn, ↑variation, ↑vet, ↑video, ↑website, ↑wince, ↑work, ↑world