[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/discern.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / discern

[← D](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/D/)

# discern

«discern» in Mova's school dictionary: **hard to see or hear** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (discern, discerns, discerned, discerning)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To see, hear or notice something that is hard to see or hear. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#m1)

2) To understand or recognise something, often a difference, by thinking carefully. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#m2)

3) (formal) To tell apart, such as right from wrong. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In reading lessons, pupils discern the author's meaning or a character's feelings from clues. In science, you may discern a pattern in data. In fog or dark, you can barely discern shapes. In church and ethics, Christians speak of discerning what is right or what God wants. Phrases: «hard to discern», «discern between», «discern a pattern».

### examples

- Through the fog we could just discern the lighthouse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x1)
- Can you discern a pattern in these numbers? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x2)
- It was hard to discern what she meant. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x3)
- Babies soon learn to discern their mother's voice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x4)
- Good readers discern clues the writer has hidden. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x5)
- He could not discern any difference between the two cakes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x6)
- The judge must discern truth from lies. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x7)
- So rapidly did they grow, that Cadmus now discerned the fierce countenance of a man beneath every one. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/#x8)

### note

Formal word; pronounced «di-SURN» (the «s» sounds like «s», sometimes «z»). Adjective: discerning (good at judging quality). Noun: discernment. In everyday talk people say «make out» or «spot».

### In the corpora

- [And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.797/)
- [If they were wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/DEU.914/)
- [Then shall ye again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/MAL.66/)
- [Who can discern his errors?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.277/)
- [And I beheld among the thoughtless ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.183/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «discern» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/discern/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.