DISCERN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does discern mean? 

• DISCERN (verb)
  The verb DISCERN has 1 sense:

1. detect with the senses

  Familiarity information: DISCERN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISCERN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they discern    ... he / she / it discerns   
Past simple: discerned   
Past participle: discerned   
-ing form: discerning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Detect with the senses

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

discern; distinguish; make out; pick out; recognise; recognize; spot; tell apart

Context example:

I can't make out the faces in this photograph

"Discern" entails doing...:

comprehend; perceive (to become aware of through the senses)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "discern"):

resolve (make clearly visible)

discriminate (distinguish)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

discernible (perceptible by the senses or intellect)

discernible (capable of being seen or noticed)

discernible (capable of being perceived clearly)

discernment (perception of that which is obscure)

 Context examples 

This, and the resumption of my ring, as well as of the bear's grease in moderation, are the last marks I can discern, now, in my progress to seventeen.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Discerning a predictable pattern for which Martian years will have planet-encircling or global storms has been a challenge.

(Study Predicts Next Global Dust Storm on Mars, NASA)

But he thought he could discern.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The activity of perceiving, discerning, discovering or identifying.

(Detection, NCI Thesaurus)

A test performed by an ophthalmologist or optometrist assessing vision and ability to focus on and discern objects, as well as other tests and examinations pertaining to the eyes.

(Eye Examination, NCI Thesaurus)

When—how—whither, I could not yet discern; but he himself, I doubted not, would hurry me from Thornfield.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There was no lamp near, and the window was thick with dust, so that we could only just discern each other’s figures within.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When he talked, she heard the same voice, and discerned the same mind.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Once or twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

They saw the ships move forward in a large half-moon, but could not discern me, who was up to my breast in water.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)