experience
Americannoun
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a particular instance of personally encountering or undergoing something.
My encounter with the bear in the woods was a frightening experience.
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the process or fact of personally observing, encountering, or undergoing something.
business experience.
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the observing, encountering, or undergoing of things generally as they occur in the course of time.
to learn from experience; the range of human experience.
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knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered, or undergone.
a man of experience.
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Philosophy. the totality of the cognitions given by perception; all that is perceived, understood, and remembered.
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
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direct personal participation or observation; actual knowledge or contact
experience of prison life
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a particular incident, feeling, etc, that a person has undergone
an experience to remember
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accumulated knowledge, esp of practical matters
a man of experience
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the totality of characteristics, both past and present, that make up the particular quality of a person, place, or people
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the impact made on an individual by the culture of a people, nation, etc
the American experience
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philosophy
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the content of a perception regarded as independent of whether the apparent object actually exists Compare sense datum
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the faculty by which a person acquires knowledge of contingent facts about the world, as contrasted with reason
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the totality of a person's perceptions, feelings, and memories
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verb
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to participate in or undergo
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to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by; feel
to experience beauty
Usage
What is another way to say experience? To experience something is to meet with it or feel it firsthand. How is experience different from undergo? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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preexperiencenoun
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reexperienceverb
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experienceableadjective
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experiencelessadjective
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postexperienceadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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experiencesimple
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experiencessimple
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have experiencedperfect
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has experiencedperfect
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am experiencingprogressive
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are experiencingprogressive
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is experiencingprogressive
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have been experiencingperfect progressive
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has been experiencingperfect progressive
Past
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experiencedsimple
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had experiencedperfect
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was experiencingprogressive
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were experiencingprogressive
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had been experiencingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of experience
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, Middle French, from Latin experientia, equivalent to experient- (stem of experiēns, past participle of experīrī “to try, test”; see ex- 1, peril) + -ia noun suffix; see -ence
Explanation
If you experience something, you go through an unusual or exciting event. If you're experiencing the world's loopiest roller coaster, you'd better hope that the amusement park doesn't experience a power outage. Sometimes experience means accumulated knowledge and sometimes it refers to a single spectacular event. If you have experience in cooking, you have worked in a restaurant before. Learning by experience is a method of acquiring knowledge by doing and not by reading. On the other hand, when you come back from summer camp, your mom will want to hear about your experiences. And white-water rafting is quite an unforgettable experience.
Vocabulary lists containing experience
"Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto
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Michelle Obama's Speech at the 2016 DNC
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Schooled
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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.
See Examples For:
This means Mr. Burnham now must field-test, in real time, the policy ideas that normally would experience their first messy contact with reality on a campaign trail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Former England striker Jermain Defoe has described his first managerial job as an "eye-opening experience" following his exit from National League side Woking after just four months and six league games in charge.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“Fans are flying across countries, if not continents, to experience ‘The Odyssey’ and Imax 70 millimeter,” he added.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Think “If I’m traveling to Los Angeles, what would I want?” because it’s also about the experience you create.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
So different from Handsome’s experience of the season, because winter meant that the reflection pond in the middle of his field was covered over in snow.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
The report, published Wednesday, looks specifically at how the enforcement surge affected commercial activity near nine enforcement sites and the experiences of 75 Latino entrepreneurs across the county.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Experts say the trend hints at a broader shift in how a generation raised online experiences protest.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The remaining participant ranked it among the five most unusual experiences of their life.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
The company said the deal represents the next step in a strategy to expand beyond grocery shelves and into immersive experiences and experiential commerce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
She’s training for her second marathon in November, doing extra-long runs on the weekends, and she’s attempting to be open to all new experiences.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Tilly said she thought the sedation and memory problems she experienced afterwards might explain why she could not recall being awake.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
While some savvy owners were able to cash in big during the tournament, others experienced only a moderate bump.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
On Thursday, at least six places experienced 40C temperatures or hotter by early afternoon, while the mercury rose to 39.9C in three other locations.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Along the way, it has experienced explosive growth, helped by a strategic relationship with Nvidia and debt issuance backed by contracts with premier customers such as Microsoft, Meta and trading giant Jane Street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
We’re new to the babysitting business, and if experienced sitters have refused to work with these kids, that’s not a great sign.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
A spokesperson for her family said that Forbes was experiencing a mental health crisis and asked that no one rush to judgment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Japanese cities are experiencing "cruelly hot days", a new meteorological term devised this year to warn people of intense heat above 40C, with heatstroke alerts issued across almost the whole country.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Take “Avatar,” which seduced audiences with its immersive 3D format so intensely that some viewers reported experiencing depression returning to the real world.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Research presented at the ACS Clinical Congress 2025 examined patients younger than 50 who received a colonoscopy because they were experiencing symptoms.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
He began experiencing severe nightmares from which he awoke screaming.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
