The Collaborative International Dictionary
Perceive \Per*ceive"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Perceived; p. pr. & vb. n. Perceiving.] [OF. percevoir, perceveir, L. percipere, perceptum; per (see Per-) + capere to take, receive. See Capacious, and cf. Perception.]
To obtain knowledge of through the senses; to receive impressions from by means of the bodily organs; to take cognizance of the existence, character, or identity of, by means of the senses; to see, hear, or feel; as, to perceive a distant ship; to perceive a discord.
--Reid.-
To take intellectual cognizance of; to apprehend by the mind; to be convinced of by direct intuition; to note; to remark; to discern; to see; to understand.
Jesus perceived their wickedness.
--Matt. xxii. 18.You may, fair lady, Perceive I speak sincerely.
--Shak.Till we ourselves see it with our own eyes, and perceive it by our own understandings, we are still in the dark.
--Locke. -
To be affected of influented by. [R.]
The upper regions of the air perceive the collection of the matter of tempests before the air here below.
--Bacon.Syn: To discern; distinguish; observe; see; feel; know; understand.
Usage: To Perceive, Discern. To perceive a thing is to apprehend it as presented to the senses or the intellect; to discern is to mark differences, or to see a thing as distinguished from others around it. We may perceive two persons afar off without being able to discern whether they are men or women. Hence, discern is often used of an act of the senses or the mind involving close, discriminating, analytical attention. We perceive that which is clear or obvious; we discern that which requires much attention to get an idea of it. ``We perceive light, darkness, colors, or the truth or falsehood of anything. We discern characters, motives, the tendency and consequences of actions, etc.''
--Crabb.
Wiktionary
generally recognized to be true. v
(en-past of: perceive)
WordNet
adj. detected by instinct or inference rather than by recognized perceptual cues; "the felt presence of an intruder"; "a sensed presence in the room raised goosebumps on her arms"; "a perceived threat" [syn: sensed]
detected by means of the senses; "a perceived difference in temperature"
Usage examples of "perceived".
Sir Hugh perceived it, and enquired the cause, the tears rolled fast down her checks, and she said she had been guilty of a great sin, and could never forgive herself.
But when he perceived the situation into which distress and affright had driven her, and saw her sobbing over the child, whom she still held confined, with an idea of hiding him from Eugenia, he was instantly sensible of the danger of her joining her little sister.
She was flying to join her party, when she perceived Edgar at her side.
Arlbery perceived their youthful wonder, and felt propensity to increase it, which strengthened all her powers, and called forth all her faculties.
Camilla, looking more intently upon the group, perceived another child, and presently recognised the wife of the prisoner.
Eugenia, who had a passion for reading epitaphs and inscriptions, became so intently engaged in decyphering some old verses on an antique tablet, that she perceived not when Dr.
Camilla, when she perceived her two little sprigs, which in her recent disorder she had dropt, were demolishing under the feet of Indiana, who, with apparent unmeaningness, but internal suspicion of their giver, had trampled upon them both.
Camilla now look up, and she perceived Miss Margland leaning half out of the window of the summerhouse, from earnestness to catch what she said.
Dubster made so loud an outcry, that two or three of the sportsmen looked up, and one of them, riding close to the summer-house, perceived the two young ladies, and, instantly dismounting, fastened his horse to a tree, and contrived to scramble up into the little unfinished building.
Camilla, with emotion the most violent, perceived Edgar was by his side.
But, as she reached the hall-door, she saw that the man was safe, and perceived that her father was the only person who had left the room besides herself.
Camilla, who, mounting a little hillock of stones, presently perceived that the lady was reading a letter.
Camilla determining to send somebody from the inn to inquire what all this meant: but presently, through an opening in the common, they perceived the form in white darting forwards, with an air wild and terrified.
Camilla then ventured to look round, to see if the object of this alarm had retreated: but, with an astonishment that almost confounded her, she perceived him, a few yards off, taking a pinch of snuff, and humming an opera air.
The first object Camilla perceived upon her entrance was Edgar, and the smile with which she met his eye brought him instantly to her side.