discern
verbEtymology
From Middle English discernen, from Old French discerner, from Latin discernere (“to separate, divide, distinguish, discern”), from dis- (“apart”) + cernere (“to distinguish”); see certain.
- derived from discernere
- derived from discerner
- inherited from discernen
Definitions
To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.
- Meanwhile the brig had altered her tack, and was moving slowly to the east. Three hours later and the keenest eye could not have discerned her top-sails above the horizon.
To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind
To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind; to descry.
- If they discern any evidences of wrong-going in any direction that I have indicated, they will acknowledge that I had reason in what I wrote. If they discern no such thing, they will consider me altogether mistaken.
To distinguish something as being different from something else
To distinguish something as being different from something else; to differentiate or discriminate.
- He was too young to discern right from wrong.
›+ 1 more definitionshow fewer
To perceive differences.
The neighborhood
- synonymbehold
- synonymsee
- synonymspy
- synonymspot
- synonymdistinguish
- synonymtell apart
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at discern. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at discern. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
9 hops · closes at discern
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA