apperception
Americannoun
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the attainment of full awareness of a sensation or idea
-
the act or process of apperceiving
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of apperception
First recorded in 1745–55; from French or directly from New Latin (Leibnitz) apperceptiōn-, stem of apperceptiō. See ap- 1, perception
Explanation
Apperception is how your mind puts new information in context. You get a perception of a chair through your eyes, but apperception is how your mind relates it to chairs you've seen before. We have many perceptions: information we take in through our senses, like "It's cloudy today." An apperception goes one step further by considering the perception in relation to things you’ve perceived in the past. "There's Julia" is a perception, but "Julia is my friend" is an apperception, because it's based on past experience. "My stomach hurts" is a perception, but "I might throw up" is an apperception. Apperception is a sophisticated mental process that keeps developing through our lives.
Vocabulary lists containing apperception
Flowers for Algernon
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cept, capt, ceive (take, hold, seize)
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capt, cept, ceive, List 3
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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.
Fleeing the loud-rolling world with her new apperception, she sped Far to the heart of the moon, where her father, the moon-god, received her.
From Istar of Babylon A Phantasy by Potter, Margaret Horton
Confronted with the realities, however, he discovered the tremendous difference between "hear say" and full sensual apperception.
From The Brain by Blade, Alexander
Kant then proceeds to introduce what he evidently considers the keystone of his system, viz. 'transcendental apperception.'
From Kant's Theory of Knowledge by Prichard, Harold Arthur
The shortest way to understand the Stoic principle is through the psychological doctrine of apperception.
From The Five Great Philosophies of Life by Hyde, William De Witt
But as Kant's unity of apperception became for Green merely a symbol of the world's inherent intelligibility, the latter did not regard it as an actual process of synthesis.
From John Dewey's logical theory by Howard, Delton Thomas
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.
