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4 definitions found
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 The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Discerning \Dis*cern"ing\, adjective Acute; shrewd; sagacious; sharp-sighted. --Macaulay.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
discerning
adjective
1: having or revealing keen insight and good judgment; "a discerning critic"; "a discerning reader" [ant: {undiscerning}]
2: unobtrusively perceptive and sympathetic; "a discerning editor"; "a discreet silence" [syn: {discreet}]
3: quick to understand; "a kind and apprehensive friend"- Nathaniel Hawthorne [syn: {apprehensive}]
4: able to make or detect effects of great subtlety; sensitive; "discerning taste"; "a discerning eye for color"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
31 Moby Thesaurus words for "discerning": acute, apperceptive, appercipient, argute, astute, cogent, farseeing, farsighted, foreseeing, foresighted, forethoughted, forethoughtful, gnostic, incisive, insightful, judicious, knowing, knowledgeable, longheaded, longsighted, penetrating, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, perspicuous, piercing, provident, sagacious, sage, trenchant, understanding
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. Audio provided by one of our generous visitors. - KM |