hard to see

Meanings

1. 1phrasefixed phrase

   Difficult to notice with your eyes, because it is small, faint, or hidden.

   Grammar: Used after a linking verb like be, seem, or become: The mark is hard to see.

   Patterns

   • be hard to see
   • become hard to see
   • something is hard to see

   The numbers on the sign are hard to see from far away.

   The stars are hard to see when the moon is bright.

   Her writing is so small that it's hard to see without glasses.

2. 2phrasefixed phrase

   Difficult to understand or realize, especially a fact or truth.

   Grammar: Often used with it as a dummy subject: It's hard to see why he left.

   Patterns

   • it is hard to see why
   • hard to see how
   • hard to see the point

   It's hard to see why they changed the rule.

   It was hard to see how the plan could work.

   From her point of view, it's hard to see any other choice.

Common combinations

hard to see in the dark

The path is hard to see in the dark.

hard to see clearly

The image is hard to see clearly.

hard to see why

It's hard to see why she was upset.

hard to see from here

The stage is hard to see from here.

make something hard to see

The fog made the road hard to see.

Synonyms and how they differ

invisible

Invisible means impossible to see at all; hard to see means it can be seen but with difficulty.

faint

Faint describes something weak or unclear, like a faint light; hard to see focuses on the difficulty for the viewer.

unclear

Unclear often means not easy to understand; hard to see can mean either not easy to see with your eyes or not easy to understand.

Opposites

Word family

hard adjective

Difficult.

see verb

To notice with your eyes.

visibility noun

How far or how well you can see.

Commonly confused: hard to see or hard to look at?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “hard to see”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words