experience
Americannoun
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experiences
plural
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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)
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experiences,
present (3rd person singular)
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experienced,
past participle, past
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experiencing
present participle
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
-
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
-
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:
It wasn’t always like this, said Rhonda Crawford, the senior vice president of customer experience design and strategy at American Airlines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
But the 56-year-old project manager said his own experience with a different type of lymphoma may have also helped.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Surprisingly, the inspiration for this research came from a simple personal experience.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
Moore plays Mona, a meek, thoroughly unseen wife and mother who impulsively decides to audition for a community theater musical despite having no experience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
In his experience, that was the tone of voice that made people feel better.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
The village's Ynysowen Male Voice Choir, which formed in the aftermath of the disaster and became a support group for local men to share their experiences, will also perform.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
Connecting these biological patterns with patients' experiences could help researchers develop more precise ways to identify and characterize depression.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2026
“And I’m disappointed because I see potential growth here. And we need to have good experiences on an individual basis as well as a team. And this was not a good experience out here.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
He says they are increasingly prioritizing experiences, including travel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Pages and pages of observations, recounting his experiences, mostly so he will not forget them but also to capture something of the circus on paper, something he can hold on to.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
It’s these obstacles that make Eisenberg’s film feel all the more realistic, accurately representing how much work it takes to find oneself, an arduous process that must be experienced over and over in different ways.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
Most users who reported shedding also experienced other scalp symptoms, including itching, redness or flaking skin.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
I have experienced something similar, although with good intentions.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026
Overall, the world experienced its second hottest September on record, with surface air temperatures averaging 16.27C, the EU service said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
“Take it from someone who has gone through big changes, someone who’s experienced the loss of love,” Mom says.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
One year after starting the program, participants returned for another MRI and reported how much knee pain they were experiencing.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
“With an event of this magnitude, the chances of experiencing impacts consistent with El Niño are larger, though not guaranteed,” the Climate Prediction Center said Thursday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
LGBTQ+ people experiencing any type of violence can call the Anti-Violence Project’s hotline at 212-714-1141 Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
But with energy companies already talking about scheduled power cuts and supermarkets experiencing periodic shortages of some goods, the pressures to leave are growing.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
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.
