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# sighting

«sighting» in Mova's school dictionary: **an occasion when someone sees something rare, unusual or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a sighting, sightings); verb form (-ing form of «sight»)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A sighting is an occasion when someone sees something rare, unusual or wanted: a bird, a whale, a UFO or a missing person. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#m1)

2) «Sighting» is also the -ing form of «sight» (to see or catch sight of), or of aiming a gun or telescope (sighting it). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In nature lessons, birdwatchers record sightings of birds in a log; scientists count sightings to see if animals are rare. In news, police ask for sightings of a missing person or animal. In stories, «UFO sightings» and «ghost sightings» are unproven reports. Phrases: «a rare sighting», «reported sightings», «first sighting», «UFO sighting».

### examples

- There was a rare sighting of a kingfisher by the river. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#x1)
- Our class recorded ten bird sightings in one hour. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#x2)
- Police asked for any sightings of the missing dog. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#x3)
- The first sighting of land made the sailors cheer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#x4)
- There have been many UFO sightings, but none has been proved. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#x5)
- The tally chart showed sightings of each bird. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/#x6)

### note

Countable. A sighting is a report that someone saw something; it is not proof. Do not confuse with «siting» (choosing the place for something) or «citing» (quoting), which sound the same. In tally and data problems, each sighting counts as one.

### In the corpora

- [People still report thylacine sightings, but none have been proven.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/281-extinct-forever-the-dodo-the-passenger-pigeon-the-thylacine-and-more/8/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sighting» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sighting/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.