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discernment

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,692 of 15,258leans written

Discernment is the ability to judge well and to see fine differences. Show discernment, a woman of discernment, lack discernment.

It is praise for judgement rather than for knowledge, since it describes noticing what others miss. In religious writing it names the sorting of good counsel from bad, which is the older use.

Definitions of discernment

  1. 1noundiscernmentThe ability to judge well and see fine differences.C1

    “Choosing that painting showed real discernment.”

discernment is an ability.

Where it comes from

Middle French discernement comes from discerner, from Latin discernere, to separate one thing from another.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *krey-

  2. Middle French

    discernement

  3. English, today

    discernment

From Middle French discernement, equivalent to discern + ment.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

discernment in the wild

  • In Christianity, discernment is the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well (or the activity of so doing).

    Discernment (Christianity)

  • In the case of judgment, discernment can be psychological, moral, or aesthetic in nature.

    Discernment (Christianity)

  • Judgment of discernment can be made in two ways.

    Discernment of spirits

  • Vocational discernment is the process by which men and women in the Catholic Church discern, or recognize, their vocation in the church and the world.

    Vocations in the Catholic Church

  • Prenatal sex discernment is the prenatal testing for discerning the sex of a fetus before birth.

    Prenatal sex discernment

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • discern