durchschauen

Definition & meaning

durchschauen has two main meanings, depending on how it is used:

1. To see through someone or something; to recognize what is really going on, especially to detect deception, motives, or a hidden truth.
   Example: Sie hat seine Lüge durchschaut. — “She saw through his lie.”

2. To look through or inspect something, such as papers or documents. In this sense, it is usually separable: etwas durchschauen becomes Ich schaue etwas durch in the present tense.
   Example: Ich schaue die Unterlagen durch. — “I’m looking through the documents.”

Grammar & Word origin

durchschauen is a verb formed from durch (“through”) and schauen (“to look” or “to see”).

Its separability depends on the meaning:

• Inseparable when it means “see through” or “figure out”: Ich durchschaue den Plan. — “I see through the plan.”
• Separable when it means “look through” or “inspect”: Ich schaue den Plan durch. — “I’m looking through the plan.”

Synonyms & antonyms

For the meaning “see through” or “understand someone’s intentions”:

• durchblicken ↗ — “to see through” or “to understand”; often emphasizes grasping a situation or its logic.
• erkennen ↗ — “to recognize” or “to realize”; broader and does not necessarily imply detecting deception.
• entlarven ↗ — “to expose” or “unmask”; stronger, as it suggests revealing someone’s deception or true identity.

Possible antonyms include:

• sich täuschen lassen [?](vocabuo://word/sich täuschen lassen) — “to be deceived”; describes being fooled rather than seeing through someone.
• missverstehen ↗ — “to misunderstand”; means failing to understand, rather than correctly grasping someone’s intentions.

Common phrases & collocations

• eine Lüge durchschauen [?](vocabuo://word/eine Lüge durchschauen) — to see through a lie
• jemandes Absichten durchschauen [?](vocabuo://word/jemandes Absichten durchschauen) — to see through someone’s intentions
• die Unterlagen durchschauen [?](vocabuo://word/die Unterlagen durchschauen) — to look through the documents