ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Discerning', Synonyms of 'Discerning' & More on 'Discerning'

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

acute, apperceptive, appercipient, argute, astute, cogent, farseeing, farsighted, foreseeing, foresighted, forethoughted, forethoughtful, gnostic, incisive, insightful, judicious, knowing, knowledgeable, longheaded, longsighted, penetrating, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, perspicuous, piercing, provident, sagacious, sage, trenchant, understanding

Dictionary Results for discerning:

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

discerning
    adj 1: having or revealing keen insight and good judgment; "a
           discerning critic"; "a discerning reader" [ant:
           undiscerning]
    2: unobtrusively perceptive and sympathetic; "a discerning
       editor"; "a discreet silence" [syn: discerning, discreet]
    3: quick to understand; "a kind and apprehensive friend"-
       Nathaniel Hawthorne [syn: apprehensive, discerning]
    4: able to make or detect effects of great subtlety; sensitive;
       "discerning taste"; "a discerning eye for color"

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

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]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Discerning \Dis*cern"ing\, a.
   Acute; shrewd; sagacious; sharp-sighted. --Macaulay.
   [1913 Webster]

Common Misspellings >