perceptual
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the 19th century, mathematician Bernhard Riemann proposed that perceptual spaces could be curved rather than flat.
From Science Daily • Feb. 23, 2026
"They're not perceptual, we cannot listen to them, but they're easy to spot if you do a few mathematical operations."
From BBC • Jan. 16, 2026
“One thing that happens in infancy is this process of perceptual narrowing, where babies in some ways have broader perceptual abilities than adults.”
From Salon • May 7, 2025
In this back room’s corners, suspended panels further interrupt the perceptual action — at one moment creating what I swear was a passing lozenge-within-a-disc that looked like the CBS eyeball, a well-known corporate trademark, winking.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 17, 2024
The game was called NeuroRacer, a three-dimensional driving game that asked the subjects to drive while simultaneously doing perceptual tasks, like recognizing objects around them.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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.
