Lexic.us

Definition of Discerning

1. Adjective. Having or revealing keen insight and good judgment. "A discerning reader"

2. Adjective. Unobtrusively perceptive and sympathetic. "A discreet silence"

3. Adjective. Quick to understand. "A kind and apprehensive friend"

4. Adjective. Able to make or detect effects of great subtlety; sensitive. "A discerning eye for color"

Definition of Discerning

1. a. Acute; shrewd; sagacious; sharp-sighted.

Definition of Discerning

1. Verb. (present participle of discern) ¹

2. Adjective. Of keen insight or good judgement; perceptive. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Discerning

1. discern [v] - See also: discern

Lexicographical Neighbors of Discerning

discepting discepts discern discern'd discernability discernable discernance discerned discerner discerners

discerneth discernibility discernible discernibleness discernibly discerning (current term) discerningly discernment discernments discerns

discerp discerped discerpible discerping discerps discerption discerptive discession discharge discharge lamp

Literary usage of Discerning

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke (1894)
"CHAPTER XL OF discerning, AND OTHER OPERATIONS OF THE MIND 1. BOOK n. T ANOTHER faculty we may take notice of in our minds CHAP. XI. is that of discerning ..."

2. Philosophical Works by John Locke, James Augustus St. John (1854)
"OF discerning, AND OTHER OPERATIONS OF THE MIND. 1. No Knowledge without Discernment.—ANOTHER faculty we may take notice of in our minds, ..."

3. The Philosophical Works of John Locke by John Locke, James Augustus St. John (1854)
"CHAPTER XL OF discerning, AND OTHER OPERATIONS OF THE MIND. 1. No Knowledge without Discernment.—ANOTHER faculty we may take notice of in our minds, ..."

4. Dictionary of National Biography by Leslie Stephen (1885)
"of the college were drawn up in professed harmony with his view», it may be interred that he recognised, in common with other discerning minds, ..."

5. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann, Edward Aloysius Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas Joseph Shahan, John Joseph Wynne (1913)
"He had long shown to discerning eyes, like those of Sir Thomas More, that he would brook contradiction in nothing. Without being guilty of notable ..."

6. The Edinburgh Review by Sydney Smith (1869)
"... and indicates his appreciation by eulogiums as discerning as they are numerous. But he will not let his admiration have free course. He deems it a duty, ..."

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