PERCEIVE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does perceive mean? 

• PERCEIVE (verb)
  The verb PERCEIVE has 2 senses:

1. to become aware of through the senses

2. become conscious of

  Familiarity information: PERCEIVE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERCEIVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they perceive    ... he / she / it perceives   
Past simple: perceived   
Past participle: perceived   
-ing form: perceiving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To become aware of through the senses

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

comprehend; perceive

Context example:

I could perceive the ship coming over the horizon

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

ache; hurt; suffer (feel physical pain)

see through (perceive the true nature of)

find (perceive oneself to be in a certain condition or place)

taste (perceive by the sense of taste)

listen (hear with intention)

hear (perceive (sound) via the auditory sense)

sight; spy (catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes)

see (perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight)

touch (perceive via the tactile sense)

smell (inhale the odor of; perceive by the olfactory sense)

dream (experience while sleeping)

catch; pick up (perceive with the senses quickly, suddenly, or momentarily)

misperceive (perceive incorrectly)

hallucinate (perceive what is not there; have illusions)

divine (perceive intuitively or through some inexplicable perceptive powers)

pick up; receive (register (perceptual input))

apperceive (perceive in terms of a past experience)

feel; sense (perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles)

Derivation:

perceptible (easily seen or detected)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become conscious of

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

She finally perceived the futility of her protest

Hypernyms (to "perceive" is one way to...):

realise; realize; see; understand (perceive (an idea or situation) mentally)

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

sense; smell; smell out (become aware of not through the senses but instinctively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

perceptible (capable of being perceived by the mind or senses)

perception (the process of perceiving)

perceptive (having the ability to perceive or understand; keen in discernment)

percipient (characterized by ease and quickness in perceiving)

 Context examples 

No, no, you will proceed into this small vaulted room, and through this into several others, without perceiving anything very remarkable in either.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I now perceived I was fallen into the sea.

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

“Well, Master Copperfield,” he replied, “you perceive I am not bound to answer that question. You may not, you know. But then, you see, you may!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She was his object, and every body must perceive it.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But when the proud princess perceived that he was not her equal in birth, she scorned him, and required him first to perform another task.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Then he perceived that they were very little, and he became bolder.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The old man, whom I soon perceived to be blind, employed his leisure hours on his instrument or in contemplation.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“I perceive, Sir Nigel, that you are under vow,” she added, glancing at his covered eye.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Round the house, lads! Round the house!” cried the captain; and even in the hurly-burly, I perceived a change in his voice.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Elinor perceived with alarm that she was not quite herself, and, while attempting to soothe her, eagerly felt her pulse.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)