Dis-cĕrn'ment, n.

n. [Fr. discernement, It. discernimento, Sp. discernimento.]

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; acuteness; sagacity; insight; as, the errors of youth often proceed from the want of discernment.

Syn.—Judgment; acuteness; discrimination; penetration; sagacity.—DISCERNMENT, PENETRATION, DISCRIMINATION. Discernment is accuracy and keenness of mental vision; penetration is the power of seeing deeply into a subject in spite of every thing 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.