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)

experienced, experiencing 

1. to have experience of; meet with; undergo; feel.

   to experience nausea.

   Synonyms: suffer, endure, brook, bear

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

4. 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

5. 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

verb

1. to participate in or undergo

2. to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by; feel

   to experience beauty

Other Word Forms

• experienceable adjective
• experienceless adjective
• postexperience adjective
• preexperience noun
• reexperience verb

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of experience¹

C14: from Latin experientia, from experīrī to prove; related to Latin perīculum _peril

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

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

Example Sentences

“The way you feel about our art has a lot to do with the life experience you’re having at this point in time.”

From Salon

It was not clear whether this was a blip for the 33-year-old or the kind of drop in quality many players begin to experience once they reach their 30s.

From BBC

The magic of the open water experience was better shared.

From Los Angeles Times

“His own biography — born in India, sent to Burma as a young soldier, doing what he did there and being ashamed of it — drew him closer to my own experience,” Peck says.

From Los Angeles Times

Charles nods, “Laughter is a tremendous balm for the array of atrocities that we are experiencing as a culture.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• acquaintance 
• background 
• exposure 
• familiarity 
• intimacy 
• involvement 
• know-how 
• knowledge 
• participation 
• practice 
• understanding 

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.