Perceive

//pəˈsiːv// verb

verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand. transitive

    "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge."

  2. 2
    become conscious of wordnet
  3. 3
    To interpret something in a particular way.

    "John was perceived to be a coward by his comrades"

  4. 4
    to become aware of through the senses wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
kenappreciateapprehendascertainbe acquainted withbe apprised of

Example

More examples

"I perceive by your face that you have good news."

Etymology

From Middle English perceyven, borrowed from Old French percevoir, perceveir, from Latin percipiō, past participle perceptus (“take hold of, obtain, receive, observe”), from per (“by, through”) + capiō (“to take”); see capable. Compare conceive, deceive, receive.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.