CS Knowledge Base

• perceave (obsolete)

From Middle English perceyven, borrowed from Old French percevoir, perceveir, from Latin percipiō, past participle perceptus (“take hold of, obtain, receive, observe”), from per (“by, through”) + capiō (“to take”); see capable. Compare conceive, deceive, receive.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈsiːv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɚˈsiv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːv
• Hyphenation: per‧ceive

perceive (third-person singular simple present perceives, present participle perceiving, simple past and past participle perceived)

1. (transitive) To become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 14:7:

     Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.

   • 1938 May, Fred Reinfeld, “The US Championship Tournament”, in Chess Review:

     Morton was in fearful time pressure and at first did not realize he was mated. He snatched up his King and swung it around wildly, finally perceiving that there was no square for the critter,

   • 1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 17:

     Then our first effort must be to identify the actual words. Only after recognizing them individually can we begin to try to understand them, to struggle with perceiving what they mean.

   • 2012 March-April, Colin Allen, “Do I See What You See?”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 26 April 2012, page 168:

     Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.

2. To interpret something in a particular way.

   John was perceived to be a coward by his comrades

• ken

• perception
• percept
• perceptive

• “perceive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

perceive

1. alternative form of perceyven