Hypertext Webster Gateway: "discernment"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Discernment \Dis*cern"ment\, n. [Cf. F. discernement.]
1. The act of discerning.

2. The power or faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes
one thing from another; power of viewing differences in
objects, and their relations and tendencies; penetrative
and discriminate mental vision; acuteness; sagacity;
insight; as, the errors of youth often proceed from the
want of discernment.

Syn: Judgment; acuteness; discrimination; penetration;
sagacity; insight. -- {Discernment}, {Penetration},
{Discrimination}. Discernment is keenness and accuracy
of mental vision; penetration is the power of seeing
deeply into a subject in spite of everything that
intercepts the view; discrimination is a capacity of
tracing out minute distinctions and the nicest shades of
thought. A discerning man is not easily misled; one of a
penetrating mind sees a multitude of things which escape
others; a discriminating judgment detects the slightest
differences.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

discernment
n 1: the cognitive condition of someone who understands; "he has
virtually no understanding of social cause and effect"
[syn: {understanding}, {apprehension}, {savvy}]
2: delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values);
"arrogance and lack of taste contributed to his rapid
success"; "to ask at that particular time was the ultimate
in bad taste" [syn: {taste}, {appreciation}, {perceptiveness}]
3: perception of that which is obscure [syn: {perceptiveness}]
4: ability to make good judgments [syn: {sagacity}, {sagaciousness},
{judgment}, {judgement}]
5: the trait of judging wisely and objectively; "a man of
discernment" [syn: {discretion}]


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