at first glance

English

Prepositional phrase

at first glance

1. (modal) After only a superficial examination or review.

   At first glance it seems to be a reasonable idea. But we'll see.

   • 2007 August 18, Oliver Burkeman, “Feel good, feel bad”, in The Guardian:

     At first glance, thinking well of yourself seems obviously preferable to thinking poorly of yourself. But the problem with […]

   • 2023 November 13, Rosalind Jana, “Saltburn and the bizarre life of Britain's stately homes”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     At first glance, Saltburn is classic clash-of-the-classes fare: a tale of social strata, moral vacuity and the seductions of wealth, with a poor boy ushered into his rich friend's kingdom.

Synonyms

• at first blush, at first sight, on the face of it; see also Thesaurus:ostensibly

Translations

after only a superficial examination or review

• Arabic: لِلْوَهْلَة اَلْأُولَى (li-l-wahla l-ʔūlā)
• Armenian: առաջին հայացքից (hy) (aṙaǰin hayacʻkʻicʻ)
• Catalan: a primera vista
• Cherokee: ᎢᎬᏱ ᎠᎪᏩᏛᏗ (igvyi agowadvdi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 乍看 (zhàkàn), 看一眼 (kàn yīyǎn)

• Danish: ved første øjekast, ved første blik
• Dutch: op het eerste gezicht
• Esperanto: unuavide
• Finnish: ensisilmäyksellä, ensinäkemältä
• French: à première vue (fr), de prime abord (fr), au premier abord (fr), à vue de nez (fr)
• German: auf den ersten Blick
• Greek: εκ πρώτης όψεως (el) (ek prótis ópseos)
• Hebrew: בהשקפה ראשונה f (b'hashkafá rishoná)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: első látásra, első pillantásra (hu)
• Icelandic: við fyrstu sýn
• Italian: a prima vista
• Japanese: 一目見ただけで (hitome mita dake de)
• Korean: 일견하여 (ilgyeonhayeo)
• Latin: prīmā speciē
• Latvian: no pirmā acu uzmetiena
• Polish: na pierwszy rzut oka (pl)
• Portuguese: à primeira vista (pt)
• Russian: на пе́рвый взгляд (ru) (na pérvyj vzgljad)
• Scottish Gaelic: air a' chiad shealladh
• Spanish: a primera vista
• Swedish: vid första anblicken, vid en första anblick
• Turkish: ilk bakışta (tr)
• Ukrainian: на пе́рший погляд (uk) (na péršyj pohljad)
• Vietnamese: ban đầu (vi), thoạt nhìn

See also

• at a glance
• glance