'Discern' definitions:

Definition of 'discern'

(from WordNet)
verb
Detect with the senses; "The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards"; "I can't make out the faces in this photograph" [syn: spot, recognize, recognise, distinguish, discern, pick out, make out, tell apart]

Definition of 'Discern'

From: GCIDE
  • Discern \Dis*cern"\, v. i.
  • 1. 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]
  • 2. To make cognizance. [Obs.] --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Discern'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [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]
  • 2. 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]

Synonyms of 'discern'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Discern'