experience

UK/ɪkˈspɪə.ɹi.əns/

nounA2Very common — you will meet it every day · #641 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: experiences

Experience is the knowledge you have because you have done something for years. Years of experience.

Ten years of it can be one year repeated ten times, which is the standard warning. Experience is what tells you which rule to break, which no course can teach.

Definitions of experience

1nounexperienceThe knowledge you have because you have done something for years.A2
“The experience showed in what she did not do.”

experience is knowledge.

Where it comes from

From Latin experīrī, to try, to put to the test. Experience is not what happens to you — it is what you have tried.

Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
experientia — a trial, proof, experiment, experimental knowledge, experience
Middle English
experience
English, today
experience

Built from

experiri · Latin — to try, put to the test, undertake, undergo
ex · Latin — out
peritus · Latin — experienced, expert
āfandian · Old English — to experience

From Middle English experience, from Old French -, from Latin experientia (“a trial, proof, experiment, experimental knowledge, experience”), from experiens, present participle of experiri (“to try, put to the test, undertake, undergo”), from ex (“out”) + peritus (“experienced, expert”), past participle of periri (“to go through”); see expert and peril. Displaced native āfandung and āfandian (“to experience”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Work & Careers

Practise this word

experience in the wild

An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world as if from a location outside their physical body.
Out-of-body experience
The term out-of-body experience was introduced in 1943 by G.
Out-of-body experience
When a sufficient amount of experience is obtained, the character "levels up", achieving the next stage of character development.
Experience point
In most games, as the difficulty of the challenge increases, the experience rewarded for overcoming it also increases.
Experience point
Unreal items may be included as well, which happens when experiencing hallucinations or dreams.
Experience

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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

gain experience

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