Showing results for "perceived"

• past participle of perceive.
• past tense form of perceive.

perceived

American  

[per-seevd] / pərˈsivd /

adjective

1. taken in by the senses; heard, seen, felt, etc..

   Spontaneous memories are activated by specific signals from the parts of the brain that deal with perceived stimuli like smells, pictures, and words.

2. detected, discerned, or recognized, often without corroboration by others.

   He fails to appreciate that the perceived "backlash" against his post was not an expression of reluctance to accept change, just disagreement with his specific proposal.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of perceive.

Other Word Forms

• perceivedness
  noun
• unperceived
  adjective
• well-perceived
  adjective
• perceivedly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of perceived

perceive ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

If you sense something is true by instinct, but not necessarily by fact, you can describe that sense as perceived. If you suspect that your neighbor's dog might be dangerous, you can say the dog is a perceived threat to your family's safety. The adjective perceived has its Latin roots in per, meaning "thoroughly," and capere, meaning "to grasp." Today it retains a sense of grasping something mentally or sensing it. Oddly, the word has two conflicting meanings: first, something you infer or suspect, rather than detecting with your senses. The second meaning, however, is quite the opposite: something sensed through your actual senses, especially those of sight or hearing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perceived

Also included in the inventory were some books perceived as likely to be challenged.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

He expressed frustration with a perceived lag in the arrival of aid while the nation celebrated Independence Day with pomp and ceremony in the capital Jakarta.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Yet for KeyBanc Capital Markets these two perceived issues create “an opportunity for investors who appreciate the revenue and EPS implications of doubling capacity into the strongest catalyst the industry has likely ever seen.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

Iran doesn’t have to sink ships to control traffic—the perceived possibility of an attack can make a single voyage cost millions more to insure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

At this uncomfortable juncture, I perceived with no little confusion that Bono watched us, grinning a wide, jackanapes smile; which cajolery threw me into more distress.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

Related Words

• anticipated
• recognized