Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Discern?

\Dis*cern"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Discerned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Discerning}.] [F. discerner, L. discernere, discretum; dis- + cernere to separate, distinguish. See {Certain}, and cf. {Discreet}.] 1. To see and identify by noting a difference or differences; to note the distinctive character of; to discriminate; to distinguish. To discern such buds as are fit to produce blossoms. --Boyle. A counterfeit stone which thine eye can not discern from a right stone. --Robynson (More's Utopia). 2. To see by the eye or by the understanding; to perceive and recognize; as, to discern a difference. And [I] beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding. --Prov. vii. 7. Our unassisted sight . . . is not acute enough to discern the minute texture of visible objects. --Beattie. I wake, and I discern the truth. --Tennyson. Syn: To perceive; distinguish; discover; penetrate; discriminate; espy; descry; detect. See {Perceive}.
\Dis*cern"\, v. i. 1. To see or understand the difference; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood. More than sixscore thousand that cannot discern between their right hand their left. --Jonah iv. 11. 2. To make cognizance. [Obs.] --Bacon.