Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for experience

experience

[ ik-speer-ee-uhns ]

noun

  1. a particular instance of personally encountering or undergoing something:

    My encounter with the bear in the woods was a frightening experience.

  2. the process or fact of personally observing, encountering, or undergoing something:

    business experience.

  3. 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.

  4. knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered, or undergone:

    a man of experience.

  5. Philosophy. the totality of the cognitions given by perception; all that is perceived, understood, and remembered.


verb (used with object)

, ex·pe·ri·enced, ex·pe·ri·enc·ing.
  1. to have experience of; meet with; undergo; feel:

    to experience nausea.

    Synonyms: endure, brook, bear, suffer

  2. to learn by experience.

experience

/ ɪkˈspɪərɪəns /

noun

  1. direct personal participation or observation; actual knowledge or contact

    experience of prison life

  2. a particular incident, feeling, etc, that a person has undergone

    an experience to remember

  3. accumulated knowledge, esp of practical matters

    a man of experience

    1. the totality of characteristics, both past and present, that make up the particular quality of a person, place, or people
    2. the impact made on an individual by the culture of a people, nation, etc

      the American experience

  4. philosophy
    1. the content of a perception regarded as independent of whether the apparent object actually exists Compare sense datum
    2. the faculty by which a person acquires knowledge of contingent facts about the world, as contrasted with reason
    3. the totality of a person's perceptions, feelings, and memories
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to participate in or undergo
  2. to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by; feel

    to experience beauty

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Derived Forms

  • exˈperienceable, adjective
Discover More

Other Words From

  • ex·peri·ence·a·ble adjective
  • ex·peri·ence·less adjective
  • postex·peri·ence adjective
  • preex·peri·ence noun verb (used with object) preexperienced preexperiencing
  • reex·peri·ence verb reexperienced reexperiencing
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of experience1

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”; ex- 1, peril ) + -ia noun suffix; -ence
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of experience1

C14: from Latin experientia, from experīrī to prove; related to Latin perīculum peril
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. experience religion, to undergo a spiritual conversion by which one gains or regains faith in God.
Discover More

Example Sentences

By Jones’ count, Southern California has experienced 15 independent seismic sequences so far this year in which there have been at least one magnitude 4 or higher earthquake.

Things have changed considerably and today's teams are poles apart in terms of depth and experience.

From BBC

I love that shared experience and that you don’t have to plan it weeks or months in advance.

They acknowledge and make efforts to localize experiences for American fans.

By seismologist Lucy Jones’ count, Southern California has experienced 15 independent seismic sequences so far this year in which there have been at least one magnitude 4 or higher earthquake.

Advertisement

Discover More

How Do You Spell Experience?

Spelling tips for experience

The word experience is hard to spell for two reasons. First, it is tempting to use an a rather than an e in the final syllable, as in experiance. Second, people often think the final [ s] sound is spelled with an s rather than a c, as in experiense.

How to spell experience: An experience is an expert science. Drop the final t in expert and the sc- in science, and you get experience.

When To Use

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

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.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


expensiveexperienced