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Webster 1913 Edition

Discern

Dis-cern′

,
Verb.
T.
[
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.
Syn. – To perceive; distinguish; discover; penetrate; discriminate; espy; descry; detect. See
Perceive
.

Dis-cern′

,
Verb.
I.
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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Discern

DISCERN

,
Verb.
T.
s as z. [L., to separate or distinguish, Gr.]
1.
To separate by the eye, or by the understanding. Hence,
2.
To distinguish; to see the difference between two or more things; to discriminate; as, to discern the blossom-buds from the leaf-buds of plants.
Discern thou what is thine--Genesis 31.
3.
To make the difference.
For nothing else discerns the virtue or the vice.
4.
To discover; to see; to distinguish by the eye.
I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding. Proverbs 7.
5.
To discover by the intellect; to distinguish; hence, to have knowledge of; to judge.
So is my lord the king to discern good and bad. 2 Samuel 14.
A wise mans heart discerneth time and judgment. Ecclesiastes 8.

DISCERN

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To see or understand the difference; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood.
2.
To have judicial cognizance.

Definition 2024

discern

discern

English

Verb

discern ‎(third-person singular simple present discerns, present participle discerning, simple past and past participle discerned)

  1. (transitive) To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.
    • 1875, Jules Verne, chapter 1, in The Survivors of the Chancellor:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind; to descry.
    • 1842, Charles Dickens, American Notes for General Circulation:
      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.
  3. (transitive) To distinguish something as being different from something else; to differentiate.
    • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan:
      The severity of judgement, they say, makes men censorious and unapt to pardon the errors and infirmities of other men: and on the other side, celerity of fancy makes the thoughts less steady than is necessary to discern exactly between right and wrong.
    He was too young to discern right from wrong.
  4. (intransitive) To perceive differences.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)n

(modern pronunciation)

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈsɜːn/
  • (US) IPA(key): /dɪˈsɝn/

(older pronunciation)

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈzɜːn/
  • (US) IPA(key): /dɪˈzɝn/

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