Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.
  • noun Keenness of insight and judgment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of discerning.
  • noun Acuteness of judgment; discrimination; a considerable power of perceiving differences in regard to matters of morals and conduct: as, the errors of youth often proceed from the want of discernment; also, the faculty of distinguishing; the exercise of this faculty.
  • noun Synonyms Penetration, Discrimination, Discernment, judgment, intelligence, acuteness, acumen, clear-sightedness, sagacity, shrewdness, insight. Penetration, or insight, goes to the heart of a subject, reads the inmost character, etc. Discrimination marks the differences in what it finds. Discernment combines both these ideas.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of discerning.
  • noun The power or faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes one thing from another; power of viewing differences in objects, and their relations and tendencies; penetrative and discriminate mental vision; acuteness; sagacity; insight.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The ability to distinguish; judgement.
  • noun Discrimination.
  • noun To distinguish between things.
  • noun To perceive differences that exist.
  • noun The condition of understanding.
  • noun Aesthetic discrimination; taste, appreciation.
  • noun Perceptiveness.
  • noun The ability to make wise judgements; sagacity.
  • noun Discretion in judging objectively.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the cognitive condition of someone who understands
  • noun delicate discrimination (especially of aesthetic values)
  • noun perception of that which is obscure
  • noun the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations
  • noun the trait of judging wisely and objectively

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From discern +‎ -ment.

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Examples

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Scripture 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Apologetics 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Theology 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Current Affairs 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Dissent and Heresy 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    Protestantism 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    History 2009

  • Of course the revealed resource for this discernment is the inspired examples of St. Paul and St. Peter

    The Papacy 2009

Comments

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  • Madam, it is impossible for me to suspect a man of Mr. Snake’s sensibility and discernment.

    Sheridan, School for Scandal

    January 5, 2008