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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

discern.

To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/dɪˈsɜːn/Received-Pronunciation/dəˈsøːn/Received-Pronunciation/dɪˈsɝn/Canada, General-American/dɪˈsɜːn/Australia
  1. To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.

    transitive
  2. To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind; to descry.

    transitive
  3. To distinguish something as being different from something else; to differentiate or discriminate.

    transitive
    He was too young to discern right from wrong.
  4. To perceive differences.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English discernen, from Old French discerner, from Latin discernere (“to separate, divide, distinguish, discern”), from dis- (“apart”) + cernere (“to distinguish”); see certain.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.