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perception

American  
[per-sep-shuhn] / pərˈsɛp ʃən /

noun

  1. the act or faculty of perceiving, or apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.

    Synonyms:
    recognition, sense, awareness

  2. immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment.

    an artist of rare perception.

  3. the result or product of perceiving, as distinguished from the act of perceiving; percept.

  4. Psychology. a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.

  5. Law. the taking into possession of rents, crops, profits, etc.

perception British  
/ pəˈsɛpʃən /

noun

  1. the act or the effect of perceiving

  2. insight or intuition gained by perceiving

  3. the ability or capacity to perceive

  4. way of perceiving; awareness or consciousness; view

    advertising affects the customer's perception of a product

  5. the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by means of the sensory receptors

  6. law the collection, receipt, or taking into possession of rents, crops, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • nonperception noun
  • nonperceptional adjective
  • perceptional adjective
  • reperception noun
  • self-perception noun
  • unperceptional adjective

Etymology

Origin of perception

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English percepcioun, from Old French percepcïon, from Latin perceptiōn-, stem of perceptiō “comprehension,” literally, “a taking in”; percept, -ion

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.