GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Discern , 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.]
   To see and identify by noting a difference or differences; to note the distinctive character of; to discriminate; to distinguish.
   1913 Webster
   To discern such buds as are fit to produce blossoms.
   Boyle.
   
   1913 Webster
   A counterfeit stone which thine eye can not discern from a right stone.
   Robynson (More's Utopia).
   
   1913 Webster
   To see by the eye or by the understanding; to perceive and recognize; as, to discern a difference.
   1913 Webster
   And [I] beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.
   Prov. vii. 7.
   
   1913 Webster
   Our unassisted sight . . . is not acute enough to discern the minute texture of visible objects.
   Beattie.
   
   1913 Webster
   I wake, and I discern the truth.
   Tennyson.
   Syn. -- To perceive; distinguish; discover; penetrate; discriminate; espy; descry; detect. See Perceive.
   1913 Webster
   
         
       

2.       
   Discern, v. i.
   To see or understand the difference; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood.
   1913 Webster
   More than sixscore thousand that cannot discern between their right hand their left.
   Jonah iv. 11.
   
   1913 Webster
   To make cognizance. [Obs.]
   Bacon.
   
   1913 Webster