perceptual

American  

[per-sep-choo-uhl] / pərˈsɛp tʃu əl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or involving perception.

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perceptual British  

/ pəˈsɛptjʊəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to perception

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Other Word Forms

• interperceptual
  adjective
• interperceptually
  adverb
• nonperceptual
  adjective
• perceptually
  adverb
• unperceptual
  adjective
• unperceptually
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of perceptual

1875–80; percept + -ual, on the model of concept, conceptual

Explanation

Something that you experience through your senses is perceptual. You'll have perceptual problems in school if you accidentally wear your sunglasses instead of your reading glasses. The adjective perceptual is all about perceiving, or sensing things. It's your perceptual ability that allows you to make sense of the world around you by seeing and hearing. In science, the various sensory systems (such as visual and auditory abilities) are known as perceptual systems. The Latin root is percipere, which means "gather or seize" and also "grasp with the mind."

Example Sentences

He assembled a database of more than 3,000 cases, and more has been accumulating in the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025

Perceptual mismatch, another related theory, says that we become uncomfortable when we pick up on mismatched features, like realistic eyes but unrealistic skin.

From National Geographic • Sep. 29, 2023

Thompson, K. G., Hanes, D. P., Bichot, N. P. & Schall, J. D. Perceptual and motor processing stages identified in the activity of macaque frontal eye field neurons during visual search.

From Nature • Jan. 30, 2018

Perceptual experience, of which kinesthesia is just one part, is thornier and more multifaceted.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2017

Most of them are from scholarly journals and have long titles, such as “The Study of Synesthetic Cross-Sensory Modalities as a Result of Various Perceptual Stimuli.”

From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass