What does "discern" mean?
Discern: 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.
Additional senses
- 2.Our unassisted sight . . . is not acute enough to discern the minute texture of visible objects. Beattie. I wake, and I discern the truth. Tennyson. See Perceive.
- 3.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.
- 4.2. To make cognizance. [Obs.] Bacon.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Steward: Jason Burns
- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00