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

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

Derived Forms

• exˈperienceable, adjective

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

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

When you go to a restaurant, you are as much responsible for having a good experience as the restaurant is for providing it.

From Eater

Gibbs has little experience in federal personnel matters, having worked mainly in the software industry before going to HUD, where he oversees a community planning and development office.

From Washington Post

Warner Bros’ sci-fi thriller was viewed as the main litmus test for whether audiences were ready to embrace the theatrical experience again, after nearly six months of shuttered theaters due to the pandemic.

From Fortune

I think there’s a narrative that we can learn on the job, and I do believe a lot of people can, and have, but felt that learning from other people’s experiences and from experts made more sense to me.

From Outside Online

At a time when people are not together, create a shared experience where people can come together.

From Digiday

Should capability delivery experience additional changes, this estimate will be revised appropriately.

From The Daily Beast

Women are more likely to recover sooner from birth and less likely to experience post-partum depression.

From The Daily Beast

And, as Gow adds wryly from his own personal experience, “To a huge extent they achieved that aim very well.”

From The Daily Beast

He flew with Captain Irianto, 53, who had 20,000 hours experience, more than 6,000 hours on the A320.

From The Daily Beast

The copilot on Flight 8501 was Remi Emmanuel Piesel, 46, who despite his age had just 2,275 hours of flying experience.

From The Daily Beast

The experience of the Jesuit fathers at Port Royal is related at length, from their own point of view.

From Project Gutenberg

With Bacon, experientia does not always mean observation; and may mean either experience or experiment.

From Project Gutenberg

I cannot see in science, nor in experience, nor in history any signs of such a God, nor of such intervention.

From Project Gutenberg

Knowing by experience that he would soon be up to it, he used his pole with all his might, hoping to steer clear of it.

From Project Gutenberg

The real experience has a magnetism of its own and will win above mere technicality whenever it has the opportunity.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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

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.