English Explanatory Dictionary

streetlight effect

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A kind of observational bias whereby people only search for something where it is easiest to look.

Word forms

streetlight effect streetlight effects

Etymology

An allusion to an old joke in which a drunkard searches for his keys (lost elsewhere) under a streetlight because that is where the light is.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on S Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary