apperceive
Americanverb (used with object)
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to have conscious perception of; comprehend.
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to comprehend (a new idea) by assimilation with the sum of one's previous knowledge and experience.
verb
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to be aware of perceiving
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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.
One may perceive a new object without understanding it, but to apperceive it is to interpret its meaning by the aid of similar familiar notions.
From The Elements of General Method Based on the Principles of Herbart by McMurry, Charles Alexander
Certain signs of passion are all that we ever apperceive externally.
From Laughter : an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Brereton, Cloudesley Shovell Henry
I cannot but think that to apperceive your pupil as a little sensitive, impulsive, associative, and reactive organism, partly fated and partly free, will lead to a better intelligence of all his ways.
From Talks To Teachers On Psychology; And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals by James, William
They said they worshipped some angel, who appears to them as a Divine man, for he is resplendent with light; and that he instructs them and enables them to apperceive what they ought to do.
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
Hence a man is in the midst, nor does he apperceive the evil or the good; and being in the midst, is free to turn himself to the one or to the other.
From The Gist of Swedenborg by Smyth, Julian K.
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.
