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perceptive

adjective

Simple meaning

Related to the representation of what is perceived.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

persehptiv

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

pɚˈsɛptɪv

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Of or relating to perception

  2. Having or showing keenness or sharpness of perception, insight, understanding, or intuition.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Having or showing keenness or sharpness of perception, insight, understanding, or intuition.

Used this way, perceptive is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • apperceptive , 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 perceptive

  • “Perceptive faculties.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

perceptive analysisperceptive facultyperceptive studyperceptive readerperceptive observerperceptive powerhighly perceptiveperceptive discussion

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • perceptualadjectiveDerived adjective

    Related to Of or relating to perception.

  • perceptibleadjectiveDerived adjective

    Capable of being perceived by the mind or senses.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: of or relating to perception

apperceptiveRare

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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.