DISCERNING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Discerning

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/dɪsˈərnɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Discern v. t. (past & past part. discerned; pres. part. discerning)

To see and identify by noting a difference or differences; to note the distinctive character of; to discriminate; to distinguish. "To discern such buds as are fit to produce blossoms." "A counterfeit stone which thine eye can not discern from a right stone."

To see by the eye or by the understanding; to perceive and recognize; as, to discern a difference. "And (I) beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding." "Our unassisted sight... is not acute enough to discern the minute texture of visible objects." "I wake, and I discern the truth."

Synonyms: To perceive; distinguish; discover; penetrate; discriminate; espy; descry; detect. See Perceive.

Discern v. i.

To see or understand the difference; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood. "More than sixscore thousand that cannot discern between their right hand their left."

To make cognizance. (Obs.)

adjective

Discerning adj. Acute; shrewd; sagacious; sharp-sighted.

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Etymology of 'Discerning'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Discerning" Quotes from Famous Books

... deceive themselves with this, that they are looked on by other godly, discerning persons and ministers, as good serious Christians, and that they carry so handsomely and so fair, that no man can judge otherways of them, than that they are good serious seekers of God. But, alas! the day is coming which will discover many things, and many one will be ...

— Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life • John Brown (of Wamphray)

... educate them," said Emerson. These boys read poetry together; and it seems the first author that specially attracted them was Mrs. Browning; and she attracted them simply because she had recently eloped with the man she loved. This fact proved to Morris that she was a worthy woman and a discerning. She had the courage of her convictions. To elope with a poor poet, leaving a rich father and a luxurious home—what ...

— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5 (of 14) • Elbert Hubbard

... an entire sacrifice for God, when they were covetously withholding a portion for themselves. The Spirit of truth revealed to the apostles the real character of these pretenders, and the judgments of God rid the church of this foul blot upon its purity. This signal evidence of the discerning Spirit of Christ in the church was a terror to hypocrites and evil-doers. They could not long remain in connection with those who were, in habit and disposition, constant representatives of Christ; and as trials and persecution came ...

— The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan • Ellen G. White

... was either gratified or disappointed, he resolved to deserve the thanks of posterity, by placing the most exalted merit on the Roman throne. His discerning eye easily discovered a senator about fifty years of age, clameless in all the offices of life; and a youth of about seventeen, whose riper years opened a fair prospect of every virtue: the elder of these was declared the son and ...

— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 1 • Edward Gibbon

... Superior wrote to me that "I was in the right, and that she had now come out of that state of dejection, in greater purity than ever." The Lord gave to me alone at that time to know her state. This was the commencement of the gift of discerning spirits, which ...

— The Autobiography of Madame Guyon • Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon

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