perception

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: per=cep=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

perception, n. [L. perceptio: cf. F. perception. See Perceive.].

•  The act of perceiving; cognizance by the senses or intellect; apperhension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them; discernment; apperhension; cognition.  [1913 Webster]
•  The faculty of perceiving; the faculty, or peculiar part, of man's constitution by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs; the act of apperhending material objects or qualities through the senses; -- distinguished from conception.  Sir W. Hamilton.  [1913 Webster]

  "Matter hath no life nor perception, and is not conscious of its own existence."  [1913 Webster]
•  The quality, state, or capability, of being affected by something external; sensation; sensibility.  [1913 Webster]

  "This experiment discovereth perception in plants."  [1913 Webster]
•  An idea; a notion.  Sir M. Hale.  [1913 Webster]

  " “The word perception is, in the language of philosophers previous to Reid, used in a very extensive signification. By Descartes, Malebranche, Locke, Leibnitz, and others, it is employed in a sense almost as unexclusive as consciousness, in its widest signification. By Reid this word was limited to our faculty acquisitive of knowledge, and to that branch of this faculty whereby, through the senses, we obtain a knowledge of the external world. But his limitation did not stop here. In the act of external perception he distinguished two elements, to which he gave the names of perception and sensation. He ought perhaps to have called these perception proper and sensation proper, when employed in his special meaning.”"  Sir W. Hamilton.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

perception, n.
1 a the faculty of perceiving. b an instance of this.
2 (often foll. by of) a the intuitive recognition of a truth, aesthetic quality, etc. b an instance of this (a sudden perception of the true position).
3 Philos. the ability of the mind to refer sensory information to an external object as its cause.

Derivative

perceptional adj. perceptual adj. perceptually adv.

Etymology

ME f. L perceptio (as PERCEIVE)

THESAURUS

perception

acuity, acumen, acuteness, apperception, appreciation, appreciativeness, apprehension, astuteness, awareness, clear sight, cogency, cognition, cognizance, color vision, comprehension, conceit, concept, conception, cone vision, consciousness, critical discernment, day vision, daylight vision, discernment, experience, eye, eye-mindedness, eyesight, fancy, farseeingness, farsight, farsightedness, feel, feeling, field of view, field of vision, flair, foresight, foresightedness, grasp, horizon, idea, image, imago, impression, incisiveness, insight, instinct, intellection, intellectual object, intuition, judgment, keen sight, ken, knowledge, longheadedness, longsightedness, memory-trace, mental image, mental impression, mindfulness, night vision, noesis, note, notice, notion, observation, opinion, penetration, percept, perceptiveness, percipience, peripheral field, peripheral vision, perspective, perspicaciousness, perspicacity, perspicuity, perspicuousness, photopia, power of sight, providence, purview, quick sight, range, realization, recept, recognition, reflection, representation, response, response to stimuli, rod vision, sagaciousness, sagacity, scope, scotopia, seeing, sensation, sense, sense impression, sense of sight, sense perception, sensibility, sensory experience, sentiment, sight, sightedness, supposition, sweep, theory, thought, trenchancy, twilight vision, understanding, unobstructed vision, view, vision, visual acuity, visual field, visual sense

ROGET THESAURUS

perception

Idea

N idea, notion, conception, thought, apprehension, impression, perception, image, eidolon, sentiment, reflection, observation, consideration, abstract idea, archetype, formative notion, guiding conception, organizing conception, image in the mind, regulative principle, view, theory, conceit, fancy, phantasy, point of view, field of view.

Knowledge

N knowledge, cognizance, cognition, cognoscence, acquaintance, experience, ken, privity, insight, familiarity, comprehension, apprehension, recognition, appreciation, intuition, conscience, consciousness, perception, precognition, acroamatics, light, enlightenment, glimpse, inkling, glimmer, glimmering, dawn, scent, suspicion, impression, discovery, system of knowledge, body of knowledge, science, philosophy, pansophy, acroama, theory, aetiology, etiology, circle of the sciences, pandect, doctrine, body of doctrine, cyclopedia, encyclopedia, school, tree of knowledge, republic of letters, erudition, learning, lore, scholarship, reading, letters, literature, book madness, book learning, bookishness, bibliomania, bibliolatry, information, general information, store of knowledge, education, culture, menticulture, attainments, acquirements, acquisitions, accomplishments, proficiency, practical knowledge, liberal education, dilettantism, rudiments, deep knowledge, profound knowledge, solid knowledge, accurate knowledge, acroatic knowledge, acroamatic knowledge, vast knowledge, extensive knowledge, encyclopedic knowledge, encyclopedic learning, omniscience, pantology, march of intellect, progress of science, advance of science, advance of learning, schoolmaster abroad, scholar, knowing, cognitive, acroamatic, aware of, cognizant of, conscious of, acquainted with, made acquainted with, privy to, no stranger to, au fait with, au courant, in the secret, up to, alive to, behind the scenes, behind the curtain, let into, apprized of, informed of, undeceived, proficient with, versed with, read with, forward with, strong with, at home in, conversant with, familiar with, erudite, instructed, leaned, lettered, educated, well conned, well informed, well read, well grounded, well educated, enlightened, shrewd, savant, blue, bookish, scholastic, solid, profound, deep-read, book- learned, accomplished, omniscient, self-taught, known, ascertained, well-known, recognized, received, notorious, noted, proverbial, familiar, familiar as household words, familiar to every schoolboy, hackneyed, trite, trivial, commonplace, cognoscible, cognizable, to one's knowledge, to the best of one's knowledge, one's eyes being opened, ompredre tout c'est tout pardonner, to know all is to pardon all, empta dolore docet experientia, gnothi seauton, half our knowledge we must snatch not take, Jahre lehren mehr als Bucher, years teach more than books, knowledge comes but wisdom lingers, knowledge is power, les affaires font les hommes, nec scire fas est omnia, the amassed thought and experience of innumerable, was ich nicht weiss macht mich nicht heiss.