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Consider the following sentence:

This verb literally means "to look fixedly at something or someone with eyes wide open" and it suggests being so attentive to or mesmerized/shocked by what you see that you couldn't look away.

I'm wondering, should it be "with the eyes wide open" or is there a nuanced difference between using and leaving out "the" after "with" in similar phrases?

Mohammad
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    Definitely not ***the** [eyes]* in any remotely "normal" context. But dictionary definitions *aren't* "normal contexts", so it's not out of place in your first sentence above, which is presented as a definition. In other contexts though, if you want to include a determiner it would be perfectly idiomatic to say *with **his/her** eyes wide open*. – FumbleFingers Nov 27 '21 at 16:15
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    There is another meaning of **with eyes wide open** in the context of **going into a situation with eyes wide open** Which means going into the situation knowing full well the circumstances and problems it you could face. – Peter Jennings Nov 27 '21 at 16:56
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    This might also answer your question: [Is it not correct to say "I have the brown eyes" instead of "I have brown eyes", and why?](https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/192156/9161) – ColleenV Dec 03 '21 at 15:21

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There is no significance in the inclusion/omission of the. Since you is used later in the sentence, the writer could also have put with your eyes wide open.

Kate Bunting
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