perceive
Syllables: per·ceiveUK/pəˈsiːv//pɚˈsiv/
perceive verb: to become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand.
Verb
perceive (third-person singular simple present perceives, present participle perceiving, simple past and past participle perceived)
- To become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand.
- Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 14:7
- 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,1938 May, Fred Reinfeld, “The US Championship Tournament”, in Chess Review
- To interpret something in a particular way.
- John was perceived to be a coward by his comrades
perceive meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
perceive in Hindi
- to perceive, understand
- ताड़ना tāṛnā
- to perceive, notice
- अवलोकन करना avlokan karnā
- to perceive
- समझना samajhnā
- to perceive, experience
- पाना pānā
perceive in Tamil
- அறிந்துகொள், தெரிந்து கொள்
perceive in Urdu
- to perceive
- سمجھنا samajhnā, پانا pānā
perceive in Bengali
- উপলব্ধি করা, অনুভব করা, বুঝতে পারা
More languagesFewer languages
- perceive in Malayalam
- കാണുക, മനസ്സിലാക്കുക, ഗ്രഹിക്കുക, ഉണരുക
- perceive in Kannada
- ಒಣರು, ತಿಳಿ, ಅರಿ
- perceive in Sanskrit
- धी dhī, लक्ष् lakṣ, लक्षति lakṣati, अवेक्षते ávekṣate
- perceive in Arabic
- أَدْرَكَ ʔadraka, وَعَى waʕā, فَهِمَ fahima
- perceive in Persian
- درک کردن
- perceive in Thai
- รับรู้ ráp-rúu, เข้าใจ kâo-jai
Examples of perceive in a sentence
- By acuteness of feeling, we perceive small objects or slight impressions.
- One of the most common synaesthetic effects is to perceive each letter as having a colour.
- Humans and birds can perceive color.
Synonyms of perceive
Antonyms
- produce sensation
Forms of perceive
| third-person singular present | perceives |
|---|---|
| present participle | perceiving |
| past participle | perceived |
| past | perceived |
| alternative form | perceave |
Origin of perceive
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.
Words formed from perceive
Words that rhyme with perceive
45 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- eve
- grieve
- Kharkiv
- breve
- conceive
- naive
- neve
- Pishchiv
- weave
- keeve
- Neave
- Piskiv
- reeve
- screeve
- skeeve
- aggrieve
- beleave
- French leave
- greave
- interweave
- reave
- seave
- sheave
- shrieve
- sleave
- steeve
- steve
- take French leave
- Abib
- beeve
- deceive
- dreve
- Dutch leave
- eave
- gneeve
- khedive
- nieve
- peeve
- preconceive
- rebelieve
- reperceive
- thieve
- transceive
- we've
- Yves
Questions about perceive
- What does perceive mean?
- Perceive means to become aware of, through the physical senses, to see; to understand.
- What is perceive in Hindi?
- Perceive in Hindi is ताड़ना (tāṛnā), अवलोकन करना (avlokan karnā), समझना (samajhnā). See Perceive meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is perceive?
- Perceive is a verb.
- How do you pronounce perceive?
- Perceive is pronounced /pəˈsiːv/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of perceive?
- The past tense of perceive is perceived.
Words near perceive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: perceive (page history and authors); अवलोकन करना (Hindi) (page history and authors); perceive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); سمجھنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); Perceive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perceive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perceive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अवेक्षते (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-perceive.ogg.
Cite this entry: “perceive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/perceive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.