Adjacent Words

Perception definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PERCEP'TION, n. [L. perceptio. See Perceive.]
1. The act of perceiving or of receiving impressions by the senses; or that act or process of the mind which makes known an external object. In other words, the notice which the mind takes of external objects. We gain a knowledge of the coldness and smoothness of marble by perception.
2. In philosophy, the faculty of perceiving; the faculty or peculiar part of man's constitution, by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs.
3. Notion; idea.
4. The state of being affected or capable of being affected by something external.
This experiment discovers perception in plants.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the representation of what is perceived; basic component in the formation of a concept [syn: percept, perception, perceptual experience]
2: a way of conceiving something; "Luther had a new perception of the Bible"
3: the process of perceiving
4: knowledge gained by perceiving; "a man admired for the depth of his perception"
5: becoming aware of something via the senses [syn: sensing, perception]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin perception-, perceptio act of perceiving, from percipere Date: 14th century 1. a. a result of perceiving ; observation b. a mental image ; concept 2. obsolete consciousness 3. a. awareness of the elements of environment through physical sensation <color perception> b. physical sensation interpreted in the light of experience 4. a. quick, acute, and intuitive cognition ; appreciation b. a capacity for comprehension Synonyms: see discernment • perceptional adjective

Britannica Concise

Process of registering sensory stimuli as meaningful experience. The dividing line between sensation and perception has varied according to how the terms are defined. A common distinction is that sensations are simple sensory experiences, while percepts are complex constructions of simple elements joined through association. Another is that perception is more subject to the influence of learning. Though hearing, smell, touch, and taste perceptions have all been explored, vision has received the most attention. Structuralist researchers such as E. B. Titchener focused on the constituent elements of visual perceptions, whereas Gestalt psychology has stressed the need to examine organized wholes, believing humans are disposed to identifying patterns. Visual objects tend to appear stable despite continually changing stimulus features (such as ambient light, perspective, ground vs. figure arrangement), which enables an observer to match a perceived object with the object as it is understood to exist. Perceptions may be influenced by expectancies, needs, unconscious ideas, values, and conflicts.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a the faculty of perceiving. b an instance of this. 2 (often foll. by of) a the intuitive recognition of a truth, aesthetic quality, etc. b an instance of this (a sudden perception of the true position). 3 Philos. the ability of the mind to refer sensory information to an external object as its cause. Derivatives: perceptional adj. perceptual adj. perceptually adv. Etymology: ME f. L perceptio (as PERCEIVE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Perception Per*cep"tion, n. [L. perceptio: cf. F. perception. See Perceive.] 1. The act of perceiving; cognizance by the senses or intellect; apperhension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them; discernment; apperhension; cognition. 2. (Metaph.) The faculty of perceiving; the faculty, or peculiar part, of man's constitution by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs; the act of apperhending material objects or qualities through the senses; -- distinguished from conception. --Sir W. Hamilton. Matter hath no life nor perception, and is not conscious of its own existence. --Bentley. 3. The quality, state, or capability, of being affected by something external; sensation; sensibility. [Obs.] This experiment discovereth perception in plants. --Bacon. 4. An idea; a notion. [Obs.] --Sir M. Hale. Note: ``The word perception is, in the language of philosophers previous to Reid, used in a very extensive signification. By Descartes, Malebranche, Locke, Leibnitz, and others, it is employed in a sense almost as unexclusive as consciousness, in its widest signification. By Reid this word was limited to our faculty acquisitive of knowledge, and to that branch of this faculty whereby, through the senses, we obtain a knowledge of the external world. But his limitation did not stop here. In the act of external perception he distinguished two elements, to which he gave the names of perception and sensation. He ought perhaps to have called these perception proper and sensation proper, when employed in his special meaning.'' --Sir W. Hamilton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(perceptions) 1. Your perception of something is the way that you think about it or the impression you have of it. He is interested in how our perceptions of death affect the way we live. N-COUNT: usu poss N, N of n 2. Someone who has perception realizes or notices things that are not obvious. It did not require a great deal of perception to realise the interview was over. N-UNCOUNT 3. Perception is the recognition of things using your senses, especially the sense of sight. N-COUNT: usu with supp

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Seeing, discernment, cognition, apprehension, recognition, perceiving. 2. Perceptivity, understanding, apprehension, comprehension, discernment, feeling. 3. Sensation, sense, feeling.

Moby Thesaurus

acuity, acumen, acuteness, apperception, appreciation, appreciativeness, apprehension, astuteness, awareness, clear sight, cogency, cognition, cognizance, color vision, comprehension, conceit, concept, conception, cone vision, consciousness, critical discernment, day vision, daylight vision, discernment, experience, eye, eye-mindedness, eyesight, fancy, farseeingness, farsight, farsightedness, feel, feeling, field of view, field of vision, flair, foresight, foresightedness, grasp, horizon, idea, image, imago, impression, incisiveness, insight, instinct, intellection, intellectual object, intuition, judgment, keen sight, ken, knowledge, longheadedness, longsightedness, memory-trace, mental image, mental impression, mindfulness, night vision, noesis, note, notice, notion, observation, opinion, penetration, percept, perceptiveness, percipience, peripheral field, peripheral vision, perspective, perspicaciousness, perspicacity, perspicuity, perspicuousness, photopia, power of sight, providence, purview, quick sight, range, realization, recept, recognition, reflection, representation, response, response to stimuli, rod vision, sagaciousness, sagacity, scope, scotopia, seeing, sensation, sense, sense impression, sense of sight, sense perception, sensibility, sensory experience, sentiment, sight, sightedness, supposition, sweep, theory, thought, trenchancy, twilight vision, understanding, unobstructed vision, view, vision, visual acuity, visual field, visual sense