Showing Results for "perceived"

See Also:

• past tense form of perceive.
• past participle of perceive.

perceived

American  

[per-seevd] / pərˈsivd /

adjective

1. taken in by the senses; heard, seen, felt, etc..

   Spontaneous memories are activated by specific signals from the parts of the brain that deal with perceived stimuli like smells, pictures, and words.

2. detected, discerned, or recognized, often without corroboration by others.

   He fails to appreciate that the perceived "backlash" against his post was not an expression of reluctance to accept change, just disagreement with his specific proposal.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of perceive.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• perceivedness
  noun
• well-perceived
  adjective
• perceivedly
  adverb
• unperceived
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of perceived

perceive ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

If you sense something is true by instinct, but not necessarily by fact, you can describe that sense as perceived. If you suspect that your neighbor's dog might be dangerous, you can say the dog is a perceived threat to your family's safety. The adjective perceived has its Latin roots in per, meaning "thoroughly," and capere, meaning "to grasp." Today it retains a sense of grasping something mentally or sensing it. Oddly, the word has two conflicting meanings: first, something you infer or suspect, rather than detecting with your senses. The second meaning, however, is quite the opposite: something sensed through your actual senses, especially those of sight or hearing.

Example Sentences

Retail shareholders sometimes get a bad rap on Wall Street for being perceived as “weak hands,” as some might call them.

From Barron's • Jun. 11, 2026

Freeman describes Lilley as a friend, and an anonymous email sent to City Council in 2024 complained their socializing “could be perceived as exerting undue influence or favoritism.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026

"So anything perceived to be negative for equities, from higher inflation to even the potential for rate hikes, will knock the market off its footing after a historic run."

From Barron's • Jun. 10, 2026

As the title suggests, thrumming as a low note throughout “Who’s the Favorite?” is the perceived reality of sibling competition.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

But Varney also perceived something else: the silver eagles on his collar rendered all the muscles of all the light colonels in the Marine Corps impotent.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Related Words

• anticipated
• recognized