'Experience' definitions:

Definition of 'experience'

From: WordNet
noun
The accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from direct participation in events or activities; "a man of experience"; "experience is the best teacher" [ant: inexperience, rawness]
noun
The content of direct observation or participation in an event; "he had a religious experience"; "he recalled the experience vividly"
noun
An event as apprehended; "a surprising experience"; "that painful experience certainly got our attention"
verb
Go or live through; "We had many trials to go through"; "he saw action in Viet Nam" [syn: experience, see, go through]
verb
Have firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or sensations; "I know the feeling!"; "have you ever known hunger?"; "I have lived a kind of hell when I was a drug addict"; "The holocaust survivors have lived a nightmare"; "I lived through two divorces" [syn: know, experience, live]
verb
Go through (mental or physical states or experiences); "get an idea"; "experience vertigo"; "get nauseous"; "receive injuries"; "have a feeling" [syn: experience, receive, have, get]
verb
Undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind; "She felt resentful"; "He felt regret" [syn: feel, experience]
verb
Undergo; "The stocks had a fast run-up" [syn: have, experience]

Definition of 'Experience'

From: GCIDE
  • Experience \Ex*pe"ri*ence\ ([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*ens), n. [F. exp['e]rience, L. experientia, tr. experiens, experientis, p. pr. of experiri, expertus, to try; ex out + the root of peritus experienced. See Peril, and cf. Expert.]
  • 1. Trial, as a test or experiment. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • She caused him to make experience Upon wild beasts. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced by any event, whether witnessed or participated in; personal and direct impressions as contrasted with description or fancies; personal acquaintance; actual enjoyment or suffering. "Guided by other's experiences." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. --P. Henry [1913 Webster]
  • To most men experience is like the stern lights of a ship, which illumine only the track it has passed. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]
  • When the consuls . . . came in . . . they knew soon by experience how slenderly guarded against danger the majesty of rulers is where force is wanting. --Holland. [1913 Webster]
  • Those that undertook the religion of our Savior upon his preaching, had no experience of it. --Sharp. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. An act of knowledge, one or more, by which single facts or general truths are ascertained; experimental or inductive knowledge; hence, implying skill, facility, or practical wisdom gained by personal knowledge, feeling or action; as, a king without experience of war. [1913 Webster]
  • Whence hath the mind all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer in one word, from experience. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
  • Experience may be acquired in two ways; either, first by noticing facts without any attempt to influence the frequency of their occurrence or to vary the circumstances under which they occur; this is observation; or, secondly, by putting in action causes or agents over which we have control, and purposely varying their combinations, and noticing what effects take place; this is experiment. --Sir J. Herschel. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Experience'

From: GCIDE
  • Experience \Ex*pe"ri*ence\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Experienced ([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*enst); p. pr. & vb. n. Experiencing ([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*en*s[i^]ng).]
  • 1. To make practical acquaintance with; to try personally; to prove by use or trial; to have trial of; to have the lot or fortune of; to have befall one; to be affected by; to feel; as, to experience pain or pleasure; to experience poverty; to experience a change of views. [1913 Webster]
  • The partial failure and disappointment which he had experienced in India. --Thirwall. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To exercise; to train by practice. [1913 Webster]
  • The youthful sailors thus with early care Their arms experience, and for sea prepare. --Harte. [1913 Webster]
  • To experience religion (Theol.), to become a convert to the doctrines of Christianity; to yield to the power of religious truth. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'experience'

From: Moby Thesaurus