discern

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /dɪˈsɜːn/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /dɪˈsɝn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form discern

Third-person singular discerns

Past tense discerned

Past participle discerned

Present participle discerning

1. If you can discern a pattern, difference, or meaning you can notice, see, or identify it.

   It can be difficult to discern any pattern when there are so few examples.

   They were trying to discern whether anything had changed.

   His head was turned away so that she could not discern his features.

Related words

• discernible
• discernment
• indiscernible