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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
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Derived Forms

  • exˈperienceable, adjective
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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
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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
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Word History and Origins

Origin of experience1

C14: from Latin experientia, from experīrī to prove; related to Latin perīculum peril
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Idioms and Phrases

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

But I wanted her to trust me with my experience with that, to know what was right for telling her story in the best way and telling Anthony’s story in the best way.

It was only a positive experience for me.

Much of Jentry, Wu explains, is based on her experience and her own personality — so much that there were times that it was hard not to take studio notes about the character personally.

In Switzerland, for example, more than half of all 16-year-olds have year-round paid work experiences in fields including banking and construction.

Meinzer’s interest in finding a faster alternative stemmed from his own snowboarding experiences when he’d visit the area and wade through traffic, wondering why there wasn’t a more seamless route.

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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.

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