Dis*cern"ment (?), n.
[Cf. F. discernement.]
1.
The act of discerning.
2. 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; as, the errors of
youth often proceed from the want of
discernment.
Syn. -- Judgment; acuteness; discrimination; penetration; sagacity;
insight. -- Discernment, Penetration, Discrimination. Discernment is keenness and accuracy of mental vision; penetration is the power of
seeing deeply into a subject in spite of everything that intercepts
the view; discrimination is a capacity of
tracing out minute distinctions and the nicest shades of thought. A discerning man is not easily
misled; one of a penetrating mind sees
a multitude of things which escape others; a discriminating judgment detects the slightest
differences.
Hear it pronounced