Word of the Day: Perceive
To perceive something is to think about it from your own point of view. You have an opinion or an idea that may or may not be correct, but it is the way that you see something or think about a situation.
- Artists perceive the world around them differently from nonartists.
- Young people perceive the world in a way that is different from the way older people perceive it.
- A person interested in politics perceives elections differently from a person who doesn’t care at all about politics.
- Employees of a company perceive their supervisors quite differently from the way the supervisors perceive them.
- How do you perceive your own situation?
- How do you perceive the world?
- Now that she’s in her eighties and dying of cancer, Esther perceives that her life is about to come to an end.
- As a young college graduate, Ralph perceives the possibilities for his life as unlimited.
The word “perception” is a noun.
- Nadia is twelve years old. Her perception of the world is limited by her lack of experience.
- Daniel has a negative perception of himself because he’s not a very good student.
- Pamela’s perception of herself has changed over the years as she has become an accomplished pianist.
The word “perceptive” is an adjective:
- Perceptive audience members noticed that the actress flubbed some of her lines while performing in Romeo and Juliet. (flub = to make a mistake)
- A perceptive driver has learned how to anticipate hazardous situations while driving a car in bad weather.
- Your comments reveal how perceptive you are as a student.
- That’s very perceptive!
Essential English Dictionary
Visit the Popular English Words Beginning with P page to see the list of all words starting with letter P. For seeing the HiCafe dictionary, visit the Popular English Words with Meaning page.
