Definitions

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

  • noun The supposed power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses.
  • noun Acute intuitive insight or perceptiveness.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A power attributed to persons in a mesmeric state, by which they are supposed to discern objects concealed from sight, and to see what is happening at a distance.
  • noun Hence Sagacity; penetration; quick intuitive knowledge of things.

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

  • noun A power, attributed to some persons while in a mesmeric state, of discerning objects not perceptible by the senses in their normal condition.

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

  • noun parapsychology The power to perceive objects that are not accessible to the senses.

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

  • noun apparent power to perceive things that are not present to the senses

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French clairvoyance.

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Examples

  • I understood her to refer to what we call clairvoyance, when the person entranced reveals secret or distant things to the entrancer.

    When the World Shook; being an account of the great adventure of Bastin, Bickley and Arbuthnot Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • Therefore I would claim for the Society its place as a seeker after new knowledge, investigation by what we call clairvoyance, the definite and regular carrying out of the third object, which has been far too much neglected of late years; practically, where many years ago the Society was leading the way in the investigation of the hidden laws in Nature and the hidden powers in man, it now has to take a back seat with regard to the contributions it is making under that particular object for which amongst others it was founded.

    London Lectures of 1907 Annie Wood Besant 1890

  • Â The feedback causes both of them to be knocked down, and she remarks that his precognition/clairvoyance is particularly intense.

    ClanDestine #1 (of 5) | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009

  • The only advantage of clairvoyance is that it give the writer an easy way to fill plot holes without wasting too much time on the character.

    Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Tom’s Review Forum 2009

  • In one of the passages relating to this method of inducing what is called clairvoyance, we have an illustration of the early acquaintance of mankind with some of the forms of mesmerism.

    The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II Various

  • That, in addition to the ordinary manifestations of insensibility to pain, rigidity, and what is called clairvoyance, the patients affected with the more intense conditions of the malady have at all times exhibited a marvellous command of languages;

    The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II Various

  • Whether these answers be ascribed to Spirits, or to what is termed clairvoyance, they would be none the less true or false if delivered orally by the Medium; all that we are sure of is that the writing down of these communications, be their substance what it may, is performed in a manner so closely resembling fraud as to be indistinguishable from it.

    Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism In Accordance with the Request of the Late Henry Seybert The Seybert Commission

  • In a painless and natural process the lighter disengages itself from the heavier, and slowly draws itself off until it stands with the same mind, the same emotions, and an exactly similar body, beside the couch of death, aware of those around and yet unable to make them aware of it, save where that finer spiritual eyesight called clairvoyance exists.

    The Vital Message 1919

  • The escape of Finn under the fleece of the ram means that, having destroyed the spiritual eye, he could only use the organ of psychic clairvoyance, which is symbolized here, as in the mysticism of other countries, by the ram.

    AE in the Irish Theosophist George William Russell 1901

  • There are other planes of mind which have to do with the phenomena known as "psychic," by which is meant the phases of psychic phenomena known as clairvoyance, psychometry, telepathy, etc., but we shall not consider them in this lesson, for they belong to another part of the general subject.

    A Series of Lessons in Raja Yoga William Walker Atkinson 1897

Comments

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  • We understood each other. Clairvoyance that in our human form was no more than the standard new lovers' allowance. Increased post-transformation to near- total mutual transparency. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.

    March 18, 2012