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Discernment definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISCERNMENT, n. The act of discerning; also, the power or faculty of the mind, by which it distinguishes one thing from another, as truth from falsehood, virtue from vice; acuteness of judgment; power of perceiving differences of things or ideas, and their relations and tendencies. The errors of youth often proceed from the want of discernment.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the cognitive condition of someone who understands; "he has virtually no understanding of social cause and effect" [syn: understanding, apprehension, discernment, savvy]
2: delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values); "arrogance and lack of taste contributed to his rapid success"; "to ask at that particular time was the ultimate in bad taste" [syn: taste, appreciation, discernment, perceptiveness]
3: perception of that which is obscure [syn: discernment, perceptiveness]
4: the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations [syn: sagacity, sagaciousness, judgment, judgement, discernment]
5: the trait of judging wisely and objectively; "a man of discernment" [syn: discretion, discernment]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1586 1. the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure ; skill in discerning 2. an act of discerning Synonyms: discernment, discrimination, perception, penetration, insight, acumen mean a power to see what is not evident to the average mind. discernment stresses accuracy (as in reading character or motives or appreciating art) <the discernment to know true friends>. discrimination stresses the power to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or excellent <the discrimination that develops through listening to a lot of great music>. perception implies quick and often sympathetic discernment (as of shades of feeling) <a novelist of keen perception into human motives>. penetration implies a searching mind that goes beyond what is obvious or superficial <lacks the penetration to see the scorn beneath their friendly smiles>. insight suggests depth of discernment coupled with understanding sympathy <a documentary providing insight into the plight of the homeless>. acumen implies characteristic penetration combined with keen practical judgment <a director of reliable box-office acumen>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. good judgement or insight.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Discernment Dis*cern"ment, n. [Cf. F. discernement.] 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. Syn: 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Discernment is the ability to judge which things of a particular kind are good and which are bad. = judgment

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Discrimination, sagacity, shrewdness, sharpness, brightness, astuteness, acuteness, cleverness, perspicacity, ingenuity, penetration, insight, judgment, intelligence, mother wit, quick parts. 2. Discerning, perception, notice, espial, discovery, descrying, beholding.

Moby Thesaurus

acuity, acumen, acuteness, apperception, astuteness, clear sight, cogency, color vision, cone vision, critical discernment, day vision, daylight vision, discrimination, eye, eye-mindedness, eyesight, farseeingness, farsight, farsightedness, field of view, field of vision, flair, foresight, foresightedness, horizon, incisiveness, insight, intuition, judgment, keen sight, keenness, ken, longheadedness, longsightedness, night vision, penetration, perception, perceptiveness, percipience, peripheral field, peripheral vision, perspicaciousness, perspicacity, perspicuity, perspicuousness, photopia, power of sight, providence, purview, quick sight, range, reason, rod vision, sagaciousness, sagacity, scope, scotopia, seeing, sense of sight, sensibility, shrewdness, sight, sightedness, sweep, trenchancy, twilight vision, unobstructed vision, vision, visual acuity, visual field, visual sense, wit