discerning
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Having or revealing keen insight and good judgment.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihsurningSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪˈsɝnɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Having or revealing keen insight and good judgment
Of keen insight or selective judgement; perceptive.
noun
Discernment
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Having or revealing keen insight and good judgment
Used this way, discerning is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Keen and enthusiastic
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Nearby words
- perspicacious , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use discerning
- “A discerning critic.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Having or showing keenness or sharpness of perception, insight, understanding, or intuition.
Of acute discernment.
Having a discerning judgment or taste.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The cognitive condition of someone who understands.
Perceptible by the senses or intellect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: having or revealing keen insight and good judgment
Antonyms
Sense: having or revealing keen insight and good judgment
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.