perception

American  

[per-sep-shuhn] / pərˈsɛp ʃən /

noun

• perceptions
  plural

1. the act or faculty of perceiving, or apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.

   Synonyms:

   recognition, sense, awareness

2. immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment.

   an artist of rare perception.

3. the result or product of perceiving, as distinguished from the act of perceiving; percept.

4. Psychology. a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.

5. Law. the taking into possession of rents, crops, profits, etc.

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perception British  

/ pəˈsɛpʃən /

noun

1. the act or the effect of perceiving

2. insight or intuition gained by perceiving

3. the ability or capacity to perceive

4. way of perceiving; awareness or consciousness; view

   advertising affects the customer's perception of a product

5. the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by means of the sensory receptors

6. law the collection, receipt, or taking into possession of rents, crops, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonperception
  noun
• reperception
  noun
• self-perception
  noun
• nonperceptional
  adjective
• perceptional
  adjective
• unperceptional
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• perceptions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of perception

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English percepcioun, from Old French percepcïon, from Latin perceptiōn-, stem of perceptiō “comprehension,” literally, “a taking in”; see percept, -ion

Explanation

Each generation has a different perception — view, idea or understanding — of what is cool. You wouldn't want to walk around in the paisley patterns of the 1960s or the big hair of the 1980s today! Based on the Latin root cipere, "to grasp," perception refers to the way you take in the world through your senses. Have you ever thought a stair was bigger than it really was so your step was too heavy? Your depth perception was off. The noun also means the opinions and beliefs you've formed about something. Your perception of your room after you've cleaned it is different than your parents' — you see clean and they probably don't.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perception perceptions

“You can change a place, you can change perception, you can change everything with one crazy success.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

In the letter, the EBU acknowledged that the current voting system was affecting fans' perception of the contest.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

These worrying landmarks reinforce a market perception that fixed-income investments are losing bets, a sentiment Hartnett summarizes as “Anything But Bonds.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

The bottom line, he said, is that “elections administration right now is very much affected by perception and misinformation, and in our field we have to be prepared to respond to that.”

From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026

Jane Fairfax’s perception seemed to accompany his; her comprehension was certainly more equal to the covert meaning, the superior intelligence, of those five letters so arranged.

From "Emma" by Jane Austen

In this view, traveling waves may help explain how the brain transforms a constant flood of complicated sensory signals into coherent perceptions, predictions, behaviors, and experiences.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026

The BBC spoke to several content creators who all denied being motivated by social media views, clicks or revenue, and insisted they were supporting conservation or attempting to change public perceptions of sharks.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Consequently, Barclays said: “In contrast, skew on credit ETFs, led by LQD, steepened sharply, opening a notable divergence in downside risk perceptions across asset classes.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

Friedkin’s movie shifted people’s perceptions about fear and played with longstanding ideas about the nuclear family and religious ideology, themes that were starting to be contested and debated as America moved further from ’50s-era sterility.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

But my parents tried to teach us to ignore any negative perceptions of our homeland.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Related Words

• approach
• attention
• attitude
• awareness
• concept
• consciousness
• feeling
• image
• impression
• judgment
• knowledge
• notion
• opinion
• recognition
• sense
• taste
• thought
• viewpoint