AT FIRST SIGHT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does at first sight mean? 

• AT FIRST SIGHT (adverb)
  The adverb AT FIRST SIGHT has 2 senses:

1. on first seeing (someone or something); immediately

2. after an initial impression, which later proves incorrect

  Familiarity information: AT FIRST SIGHT used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AT FIRST SIGHT (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

On first seeing (someone or something); immediately

Synonyms:

at first glance; at first sight

Context example:

it was love at first sight

Sense 2

Meaning:

After an initial impression, which later proves incorrect

Synonyms:

at first glance; at first sight

 Context examples 

At first sight it would appear to be some childish prank.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From what you have told me I think that it is possible that graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They were neatly done in charcoal upon the white surface, and looked to me at first sight like some sort of rough musical score.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I knew, and could distinguish those two heroes, at first sight, not only from the crowd, but from each other.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I had taken a loathing to my gentleman at first sight.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I begin to think that this affair may be very much more important than appeared at first sight.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And there was a subconscious resentment that these, his kind, at first sight had pitched upon him and tried to destroy him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

And getting a good deal paler than you were—as I saw at first sight.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

They sang his praises, told him what they had thought of his story at first sight, what they subsequently thought, what their wives and families thought; but not one hint did they breathe of intention to pay him for it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I think that you will acknowledge that the problem was already one of interest, but my observations soon made me realize that it was in truth much more extraordinary than would at first sight appear.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)