Meaning & use
see things
Last updated
Meanings
phraseintransitive
To perceive something that is not actually there, often because of a mental or physical condition.
Grammar: No object; often used in progressive tenses: 'He is seeing things.'
Patterns
- see things
- be seeing things
After staying awake for two days, she started to see things that weren't there.
The doctor asked if he had been seeing things or hearing voices.
The high fever made him see things, so his parents took him to the hospital.
phraseintransitiveinformal
To be mistaken about what one has noticed; to imagine a situation that is not real.
Grammar: Often used in the progressive: 'You're seeing things.'
Patterns
- be seeing things
You think the boss smiled at you? You're seeing things.
I thought I saw a ghost, but I was probably just seeing things.
Common combinations
- start seeing things
- After the accident, he began to start seeing things that frightened him.
- be seeing things
- She was seeing things after taking the wrong medicine.
- think you're seeing things
- I thought I was seeing things when I saw a penguin in the garden.
- make someone see things
- The strange lights in the sky made everyone see things.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hallucinate
- More formal and medical; it means to see, hear, or feel something that is not there, often due to illness or drugs.
- imagine
- Means to form a picture in your mind, but it does not imply that you believe the image is real; 'see things' suggests you briefly think it is real.
Commonly confused: see things or look at things?
see things vs look at things
Means to direct your eyes toward objects; 'see things' means to perceive something that may not exist.
Practice
After the high fever, the child began to ______ and pointed at empty corners.
Choose one answer.
'See things' is the fixed phrase for perceiving something that is not there. 'Look things' is not grammatical; 'watch things' means to observe real objects over time; 'view things' is too formal and implies deliberate looking at real things.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “see things”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.