Lexic.us

Definition of Discernment

1. Noun. The cognitive condition of someone who understands. "He has virtually no understanding of social cause and effect"

2. Noun. Delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values). "To ask at that particular time was the ultimate in bad taste"

3. Noun. Perception of that which is obscure.

4. Noun. The mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations.

5. Noun. The trait of judging wisely and objectively. "A man of discernment"

Definition of Discernment

1. n. The act of discerning.

Definition of Discernment

1. Noun. The ability to distinguish; judgement. ¹

2. Noun. Discrimination. ¹

3. Noun. To distinguish between things. ¹

4. Noun. To perceive differences that exist. ¹

5. Noun. The condition of understanding. ¹

6. Noun. Aesthetic discrimination; taste, appreciation. ¹

7. Noun. Perceptiveness. ¹

8. Noun. The ability to make wise judgements; sagacity. ¹

9. Noun. Discretion in judging objectively. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Discernment

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Discernment

1. 1. The act of discerning. 2. The power or faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes one thing from another; power of viewing differences in objects, and their relations and tendencies; penetrative and discriminate mental vision; acuteness; sagacity; insight; as, the errors of youth often proceed from the want of discernment. Synonym: Judgment, acuteness, discrimination, penetration, sagacity, insight. Discernment, Penetration, Discrimination. Discernment is keenness and accuracy of mental vision, penetration is the power of seeing deeply into a subject in spite of everything that intercepts the view, discrimination is a capacity of tracing out minute distinctions and the nicest shades of thought. A discerning man is not easily misled, one of a penetrating mind sees a multitude of things which escape others, a discriminating judgment detects the slightest differences. Origin: Cf. F. Discernement. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Discernment Pictures

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Lexicographical Neighbors of Discernment

discern discern'd discernability discernable discernance discerned discerner discerners discerneth discernibility

discernible discernibleness discernibly discerning discerningly discernment (current term) discernments discerns discerp discerped

discerpible discerping discerps discerption discerptive discession discharge discharge lamp discharge of dredged material discharge of fill material

Literary usage of Discernment

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Works of Hannah More: With a Sketch of Her Life by Hannah More (1827)
"... and the virtues, the ascription of which would be too keenest discernment cultivated, in the royal gross lo impose on his discernment. There éducation. ..."

2. English Synonymes Explained in Alphabetical Order: With Copious by George Crabb (1881)
"On the other hand, courage, discernment, a strong imagination, and the like, arc both gift« and endowments ; and when the intellectual ..."

3. The Life and Stories of the Jaina Savior, Pārçvanātha by Aristophanes, Bhāvadevasūri, Richard Thomas Elliott, William Joseph Myles Starkie (1919)
"Story of Sumati, the evil-minded, whose vices were corrected by discernment The Sage next expounds the second of the ‘worldly virtues' (see verse 98), ..."

4. The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Joseph Jacobs (1892)
"Here one requires extraordinary care, deep observation, subtle discernment, and judicious decision. ccxcii Let your personal Dualities surpass those of your ..."

5. Memoirs of the court of England during the reign of the Stuarts, including by John Heneage Jesse (1855)
"James's Pride in his Discriminative Powers—His discernment in examining the Accusation of Lady Exeter by Lady Lake and her Daughter—Discovery of the hidden ..."

6. A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen by Robert Chambers (1835)
"... intuitive discernment betwixt heterogeneous DUOS ; those creative powers, in short, of thought or expression, by which original works of whatever kind ..."

7. The Dictionary of National Biography by Sidney Lee (1908)
"Hie discernment of character is shown in the case of two relatives of one of his monks. After the young man had failed to convert them, Fintan visited them ..."

8. The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors by Charles Wells Moulton (1904)
"When I knew who she was, I felt that I ought to have distinguished her beauty and grace by my own discernment, and not waited for a ..."

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