perception
Americannoun
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the act or faculty of perceiving, or apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.
- Synonyms:
- recognition, sense, awareness
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immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment.
an artist of rare perception.
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the result or product of perceiving, as distinguished from the act of perceiving; percept.
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Psychology. a single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.
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Law. the taking into possession of rents, crops, profits, etc.
noun
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the act or the effect of perceiving
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insight or intuition gained by perceiving
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the ability or capacity to perceive
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way of perceiving; awareness or consciousness; view
advertising affects the customer's perception of a product
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the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by means of the sensory receptors
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law the collection, receipt, or taking into possession of rents, crops, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing perception
Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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"Animal Wisdom" and "The Last Wolf," Vocabulary from the poems
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Content Summary G.2: Regionalization
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By all accounts, Kelver’s perception of threat was reasonable, which—by Wyoming law—should exempt her from criminal prosecution.
From Slate • Jun. 4, 2026
It doesn’t matter that Nikki’s lack of interiority reflects Bear’s perception of her.
From Salon • Jun. 4, 2026
The subsidiary generates roughly a quarter of IBM’s software revenue and 12% of total sales, “but arguably drives a lot of the perception around the stock.”
From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026
The knock against AWS, however, has been the perception that it lacked the heft required for training AI—which is what Colossus was designed to do best.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 31, 2026
Alvarez seconded Nahmias’s perception that the cyclotron was used “as a radioactivity factory first of all because great numbers of new radioisotopes could be discovered that way with very little effort.”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
