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Webster 1913 Edition


Perception

Per-cep′tion

(pẽr-sĕp′shŭn)
,
Noun.
[L.
perceptio
: cf. F.
perception
. See
Perceive
.]
1.
The act of perceiving; cognizance by the senses or intellect; apprehension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them; discernment; apprehension; cognition.
2.
(Metaph.)
The faculty of perceiving; the faculty, or peculiar part, of man’s constitution by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs; the act of apperhending material objects or qualities through the senses; – distinguished from
conception
.
Sir W. Hamilton.
Matter hath no life nor
perception
, and is not conscious of its own existence.
Bentley.
3.
The quality, state, or capability, of being affected by something external; sensation; sensibility.
[Obs.]
This experiment discovereth
perception
in plants.
Bacon.
4.
An idea; a notion.
[Obs.]
Sir M. Hale.
☞ “The word perception is, in the language of philosophers previous to
Reid
, used in a very extensive signification. By
Descartes
,
Malebranche
,
Locke
,
Leibnitz
, and others, it is employed in a sense almost as unexclusive as consciousness, in its widest signification. By
Reid
this word was limited to our faculty acquisitive of knowledge, and to that branch of this faculty whereby, through the senses, we obtain a knowledge of the external world. But his limitation did not stop here. In the act of external perception he distinguished two elements, to which he gave the names of perception and sensation. He ought perhaps to have called these perception proper and sensation proper, when employed in his special meaning.”
Sir W. Hamilton.

Webster 1828 Edition


Perception

PERCEP'TION

,
Noun.
[L. perceptio. See Perceive.]
1.
The act of perceiving or of receiving impressions by the senses; or that act or process of the mind which makes known an external object. In other words, the notice which the mind takes of external objects. We gain a knowledge of the coldness and smoothness of marble by perception.
2.
In philosophy, the faculty of perceiving; the faculty or peculiar part of man's constitution, by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs.
3.
Notion; idea.
4.
The state of being affected or capable of being affected by something external.
This experiment discovers perception in plants.

Definition 2024


perception

perception

English

Noun

perception (countable and uncountable, plural perceptions)

  1. Organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information.
  2. Conscious understanding of something.
  3. Vision (ability)
  4. Acuity
  5. (cognition) That which is detected by the five senses; not necessarily understood (imagine looking through fog, trying to understand if you see a small dog or a cat); also that which is detected within consciousness as a thought, intuition, deduction, etc.

Synonyms

Related terms

Translations

External links

  • perception in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • perception in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

French

Etymology

From the Latin perceptiō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɛʁsɛpsjɔ̃/

Noun

perception f (plural perceptions)

  1. tax collection
  2. perception (clarification of this French definition is being sought)

Derived terms

  • petite perception (philosophy)

References