percipient
Americanadjective
-
perceiving or capable of perceiving.
-
having perception; discerning; discriminating.
a percipient choice of wines.
noun
adjective
-
able to perceive
-
perceptive
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of percipient
1655–65; < Latin percipient- (stem of percipiēns ) present participle of percipere to take in, equivalent to per- per- + -cipi- combining form of present stem of capere to take + -ent- -ent
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.
As I’ve written in the past, Rakoff is one of our most percipient jurists about the impact of new technologies on the law.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026
It’s fun wordplay with a percipient message, but fans might be further impressed to know she wrote and recorded the song extemporaneously in a single take, sitting in a studio chair while eight months pregnant.
From Washington Post • Jan. 18, 2023
My thanks to Times TV critic Lorraine Ali for her percipient take.
From Los Angeles Times • May 24, 2018
To offset that, I'm reading Inside Lives: Psychoanalysis and the Growth of the Personality by Margot Waddell, which is beautifully written, humane, clear and full of percipient literary references.
From The Guardian • Jul. 20, 2012
The percipient, seer or scryer, commonly seems to be in a fully waking state as he observes the objects thus presented.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 8 "Haller, Albrecht" to "Harmonium" by Various
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.
