apperceive
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to have conscious perception of; comprehend.
-
to comprehend (a new idea) by assimilation with the sum of one's previous knowledge and experience.
verb
-
to be aware of perceiving
-
psychol to comprehend by assimilating (a perception) to ideas already in the mind
Other Word Forms
- unapperceived adjective
Etymology
Origin of apperceive
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English word from Old French word aperceivre. See ap- 1, perceive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It was given me also to apperceive the character of their internal respiration.
From Earths In Our Solar System Which Are Called Planets, and Earths In The Starry Heaven Their Inhabitants, And The Spirits And Angels There by Swedenborg, Emanuel
They stated the view with a rash emphasis, until one is forced to ask whether a mind which is originally nothing at all, can absorb, or as psychologists say, "apperceive" anything whatever.
From Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle by Brailsford, Henry Noel
Their works have become types through which we apperceive and appreciate the world: we see French landscapes as Lorrain and Corot saw them, peasants after the fashion of Millet, the stage after Degas.
From The Principles of Aesthetics by Parker, Dewitt H.
A. Present Knowledge.—Since the mind can apperceive only that for which it is prepared through former experience, the interpretation of the same presentations will be likely to differ greatly in different individuals.
From Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education by Ontario. Ministry of Education
In this manner we accept the forms imposed upon us by utility, and train ourselves to apperceive their potential beauty.
From The Sense of Beauty Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory by Santayana, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
