seeing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of see.

   She is seeing a doctor about her frequent headaches.

   Seeing the whole city from the tower amazed the tourists.

   Note

   One spelling does two grammatical jobs. After be it builds the progressive (she is seeing). At the head of a phrase it acts as a noun, the gerund, as in Joris Luyendijk's 'Seeing the British establishment struggle…' in The Guardian Weekly (2013). That line also shows a pattern the verb takes: an object followed by a bare verb with no to, as in see something struggle.

2. 2
   conjunctionslang

   Used to introduce a reason or justification; because; given that.

   Seeing as you're already here, you might as well help us out.

   He decided to stay home, seeing that the storm was getting worse.

   Similarsince

   Note

   Despite the spelling, this is a separate word from the participle. It is probably what remains of seeing that or seeing as once the final word is dropped. The bare form, as in 'Seeing the boss wasn't around, we took it easy,' belongs to casual speech. Seeing that sounds more careful. In formal writing, since or given that is the safer choice.

3. 3
   adjective

   Having the ability to see; not blind.

   Seeing volunteers were paired with blind participants for the trust exercise.

   Only the seeing members of the audience could appreciate the visual effects.

   Similarsighted

   Oppositeblind

4. 4
   noununcountable

   Perception through the eyes, or the sense of sight itself.

   For many people, seeing is the most trusted of all the senses.

   The philosopher questioned whether seeing alone could give true knowledge.

   Similarsight, vision, eyesight

   Oppositeblindness

   Note

   Philosophers count what ordinary speech treats as a single faculty. Timothy D. J. Chappell's Reading Plato's Theaetetus (2004) lists 'seeings, hearings, smellings' as kinds of perceiving. The plural seeings turns each act of sight into a separate event. That usage belongs to the theory of knowledge. In everyday talk the uncountable form, close to eyesight, is the one you will need.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The blurring or shifting of a telescopic image caused by turbulence in Earth's atmosphere.

   Like the shimmer above a hot road that makes distant objects waver and dance.

   On nights of excellent seeing, fine detail on Jupiter becomes visible.

   Atmospheric turbulence ruined the seeing just as the eclipse began.

   Note

   An astronomer's word for the condition of the sky, not the act of looking that the everyday "eyesight" noun names. Observers speak of good, poor or excellent seeing, and of the seeing on a given night, the way others talk about weather. It comes from turbulent air of differing temperatures along the line of sight. It is often measured as the apparent angular size of a star's blurred point.

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