Discernible vs. Discern

Possible to discern; detectable or derivable by use of the senses or the intellect.

Example: ‘There is a discernible performance difference between a Porsche and a Civic.’;

Capable of being discerned by the eye or the understanding; as, a star is discernible by the eye; the identity of difference of ideas is discernible by the understanding.

Example: ‘The effect of the privations and sufferings . . . was discernible to the last in his temper and deportment.’;

perceptible by the senses or intellect;

Example: ‘things happen in the earth and sky with no discernible cause’; ‘the newspaper reports no discernible progress in the negotiations’; ‘the skyline is easily discernible even at a distance of several miles’;

capable of being perceived clearly;

Example: ‘an essay with a meaning that was not always discernible’;

capable of being seen or noticed;

Example: ‘a discernible change in attitude’; ‘a clearly evident erasure in the manuscript’; ‘an observable change in behavior’;

(transitive) To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.

(transitive) To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind; to descry.

(transitive) To distinguish something as being different from something else; to differentiate.

Example: ‘He was too young to discern right from wrong.’;

(intransitive) To perceive differences.

To see and identify by noting a difference or differences; to note the distinctive character of; to discriminate; to distinguish.

Example: ‘To discern such buds as are fit to produce blossoms.’; ‘A counterfeit stone which thine eye can not discern from a right stone.’;

To see by the eye or by the understanding; to perceive and recognize; as, to discern a difference.

Example: ‘And [I] beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding.’; ‘Our unassisted sight . . . is not acute enough to discern the minute texture of visible objects.’; ‘I wake, and I discern the truth.’;

To see or understand the difference; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood.

Example: ‘More than sixscore thousand that cannot discern between their right hand their left.’;

To make cognizance.

detect with the senses;

Example: ‘The fleeing convicts were picked out of the darkness by the watchful prison guards’; ‘I can't make out the faces in this photograph’;