experience

[ik-speer-ee-uhns]

noun

1. a particular instance of personally encountering or undergoing something.

   My encounter with the bear in the woods was a frightening experience.

2. the process or fact of personally observing, encountering, or undergoing something.

   business experience.

3. the observing, encountering, or undergoing of things generally as they occur in the course of time.

   to learn from experience; the range of human experience.

4. knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered, or undergone.

   a man of experience.

5. Philosophy.,  the totality of the cognitions given by perception; all that is perceived, understood, and remembered.

verb (used with object)

experienced, experiencing 

1. to have experience of; meet with; undergo; feel.

   to experience nausea.

   Synonyms: suffer, endure, brook, bear

2. to learn by experience.

experience

/ ɪkˈspɪərɪəns /

noun

1. direct personal participation or observation; actual knowledge or contact

   experience of prison life

2. a particular incident, feeling, etc, that a person has undergone

   an experience to remember

3. accumulated knowledge, esp of practical matters

   a man of experience

4. 1. the totality of characteristics, both past and present, that make up the particular quality of a person, place, or people

   2. the impact made on an individual by the culture of a people, nation, etc

      the American experience

5. philosophy

   1. the content of a perception regarded as independent of whether the apparent object actually exists Compare sense datum

   2. the faculty by which a person acquires knowledge of contingent facts about the world, as contrasted with reason

   3. the totality of a person's perceptions, feelings, and memories

verb

1. to participate in or undergo

2. to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by; feel

   to experience beauty

Other Word Forms

• experienceable adjective
• experienceless adjective
• postexperience adjective
• preexperience noun
• reexperience verb

Word History and Origins

Origin of experience¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, Middle French, from Latin experientia, equivalent to experient- (stem of experiēns, past participle of experīrī “to try, test”; ex- ¹, peril ) + -ia noun suffix; -ence

Word History and Origins

Origin of experience¹

C14: from Latin experientia, from experīrī to prove; related to Latin perīculum _peril

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. experience religion, to undergo a spiritual conversion by which one gains or regains faith in God.

Example Sentences

“The sound of her humiliating cackle still haunts me,” Morticia tells her daughter, recounting the experience of her own mom, Hester, reading one of her earlier manuscripts and shaming her for it.

From Salon

Tebbutt, who has years of experience in the restaurant industry and is a regular contributor to food and travel magazines, has been seen as a potential replacement.

From BBC

They’re supposed to expedite the deportation of the tens of thousands of people currently in detention camps and go through millions of backlogged cases even though few of them have experience with immigration law.

From Los Angeles Times

The TPS program was established by Congress in 1990 to give temporary protections for migrants from countries experiencing war and natural disasters.

From BBC

Higuita, however, would not get to experience it at another World Cup.

From BBC

Related Words

• acquaintance 
• background 
• exposure 
• familiarity 
• intimacy 
• involvement 
• know-how 
• knowledge 
• participation 
• practice 
• understanding 

When To Use

What is another way to say experience?

To experience something is to meet with it or feel it firsthand. How is experience different from undergo? Find out on Thesaurus.com.