Synonyms for discern
dɪˈsɜrn, -ˈzɜrndis·cern

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.2 / 5 votes

1. discern

   What we discern we see apart from all other objects; what we discriminate we judge apart; what we distinguish we mark apart, or recognize by some special mark or manifest difference. We discriminate by real differences; we distinguish by outward signs; an officer is readily distinguished from a common soldier by his uniform. Objects may be dimly discerned at twilight, when yet we can not clearly distinguish one from another. We descry (originally espy) what is difficult to discover. Compare DISCOVER; LOOK.

   Synonyms:
   behold, descry, discriminate, distinguish, observe, perceive, recognize, see

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.0 / 1 vote

1. discern

   Synonyms:
   descry, observe, recognize, see, distinguish, discover, behold, penetrate, discriminate, differentiate, separate, perceive

   Antonyms:
   overlook, confound, misdiscern

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:2.0 / 3 votes

1. spot, recognize, recognise, distinguish, discern, pick out, make out, tell apartverb

   detect with the senses

   "The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards"; "I can't make out the faces in this photograph"

   Synonyms:
   bang, have it away, screw, acknowledge, recognise, deal, grapple, get along, choose, distinguish, greet, make love, discover, do, jazz, key, love, roll in the hay, separate, cut, neck, be intimate, signalize, accredit, name, pick out, eff, bonk, make do, spot, bed, do it, mark, have intercourse, realize, make out, manage, have sex, tell apart, select, secern, take, fill out, fill in, have a go at it, key out, tell, agnise, describe, secernate, sleep with, agnize, blemish, identify, contend, issue, fleck, hump, get laid, severalize, descry, have it off, sleep together, get by, signalise, write out, spy, cope, recognize, severalise, know, come, get it on, differentiate, complete, blot, fare, lie with, espy, realise, blob

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. discernverb

   Synonyms:
   discriminate, distinguish, note the distinctions of

2. discernverb

   Synonyms:
   perceive, see, discover, descry, behold, espy

3. discernverb

   Synonyms:
   discriminate, judge, make distinction

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. discernverb

   Synonyms:
   perceive, discriminate, distinguish, see

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "discern":

   distinguish, identify, disentangle

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How to use discern in a sentence?

1. Carl Gustav Jung:

   As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.

2. Sanskrit Proverb:

   Men soon the faults of others learn, A few their virtues, too, find out; But is there one?I have a doubt? Who can his own defects discern?

3. Donald S. McAlvaney:

   In every declining civilization there is a small ‘remnant’ of people who adhere to the right against the wrong, who recognize the difference between good and evil and who will take an active stand for the former and against the latter; who can still think and discern and who will courageously take a stand against the political, social, moral, and spiritual rot or decay of their day.

4. Kerr Putney:

   We can't really discern the why just yet, the randomness is what is most concerning.

5. Charles Talleyrand:

   To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool, than to discover who is a clever man.