discern

/di'sə:n/

Thân thiện

The detective could discern a faint footprint in the soft mud.

Definition

1. Verb:
   • To perceive, recognize, or detect something with the senses or the mind: To see, hear, or understand something that is not immediately obvious or is somewhat hidden.
   • To distinguish or differentiate between things: To recognize or identify as separate and distinct.

Examples of Usage

• Verb:
  • With her keen eyesight, she could discern a ship on the distant horizon.
  • It is difficult to discern his true intentions from his vague statements.
  • A good wine taster can discern subtle differences between two similar vintages.

Advanced Usage

• "to discern between": to perceive or recognize the difference separating two or more things.
  • The jury must discern between fact and opinion in the witness's testimony.
• "to discern from": to recognize or identify something by distinguishing it from something else.
  • The expert could discern the original painting from the forgery.

Variants and Related Words

• Discernible (adj): Able to be seen, heard, or perceived.
  • There was a discernible note of anxiety in her voice.
• Discerning (adj): Having or showing good judgment, especially in matters of taste or quality.
  • The restaurant appeals to a discerning clientele.
• Discernment (n): The ability to judge well or to perceive things clearly.
  • She showed great discernment in her choice of investments.

Synonyms

• Perceive: To become aware or conscious of something.
• Detect: To discover or identify the presence of something.
• Distinguish: To recognize or treat as different.
• Discriminate: To recognize a distinction, especially carefully or precisely.

Related Phrases

• "Able to discern": Having the capacity to perceive or recognize.
  • Only the most experienced pilots are able to discern the landmarks in such dense fog.
• "Hard/Easy to discern": Difficult or simple to perceive.
  • The path was hard to discern in the failing light.

Related Idioms

• Discern the truth: To find out or understand what is real and accurate.
  • After hours of questioning, the detective began to discern the truth.
• Discern a pattern: To recognize a regular and intelligible form or sequence in apparent random information.
  • By analyzing the data, the researcher could discern a pattern.

Học thuật

Verb

1. 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

Từ đồng nghĩa

• spot
• recognize
• recognise
• distinguish
• pick out
• make out
• tell apart