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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Discern \Dis*cern"\, verb (used without an object)
1. To see or understand the difference; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood.
More than sixscore thousand that cannot discern between their right hand their left. --Jonah iv. 11.
2. To make cognizance. [Obs.] --Bacon.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Discern \Dis*cern"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Discerned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Discerning}.] [F. discerner, L. discernere, discretum; dis- + cernere to separate, distinguish. See {Certain}, and cf. {Discreet}.]
1. To see and identify by noting a difference or differences; to note the distinctive character of; to discriminate; to distinguish.
To discern such buds as are fit to produce blossoms. --Boyle.
A counterfeit stone which thine eye can not discern from a right stone. --Robynson (More's Utopia).
2. To see by the eye or by the understanding; to perceive and recognize; as, to discern a difference.
And [I] beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding. --Prov. vii. 7.
Our unassisted sight . . . is not acute enough to discern the minute texture of visible objects. --Beattie.
I wake, and I discern the truth. --Tennyson.
Syn: To perceive; distinguish; discover; penetrate; discriminate; espy; descry; detect. See {Perceive}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
discern
verb: detect with the senses; "The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards"; "I can't make out the faces in this photograph" [syn: {recognize}, {recognise}, {distinguish}, {pick out}, {make out}, {tell apart}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
78 Moby Thesaurus words for "discern": anticipate, appreciate, apprehend, ascertain, be acquainted with, be apprised of, be aware of, be cognizant of, be conscious of, be conversant with, be informed, behold, catch sight of, clap eyes on, cognize, come alive, comprehend, conceive, conceptualize, descry, detect, difference, differentiate, discover, discriminate, distinguish, divine, espy, extricate, fathom, foresee, glimpse, grasp, have, have in sight, have information about, have knowledge of, identify, ken, know, lay eyes on, look on, look upon, make out, note, notice, observe, penetrate, perceive, pick out, pick up, pierce, plumb, possess, prehend, realize, recognize, remark, savvy, see, see daylight, see into, see the light, see through, seize, sense, separate, sever, sight, spot, spy, take in, twig, understand, view, witness, wot, wot of
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