discern
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
discern
- /dɪˈsɜːn/ UK
- /dəˈsøːn/ UK
- /dɪˈsɝn/ Canada, US
- /dɪˈsɜːn/ Australia
- /dɪˈzɜːn/ UK
- /dɪˈzɝn/ US
Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)n
Where it 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.
verb discerns · discerning · discerned
- To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes. 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.
- To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind; to descry. 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.
- To distinguish something as being different from something else; to differentiate or discriminate. He was too young to discern right from wrong.
- To perceive differences.
Similar: behold, see, spy, distinguish
