From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
experience
n 1: the accumulation of knowledge or skill that results from
direct participation in events or activities; "a man of
experience"; "experience is the best teacher" [ant:
inexperience, rawness]
2: the content of direct observation or participation in an
event; "he had a religious experience"; "he recalled the
experience vividly"
3: an event as apprehended; "a surprising experience"; "that
painful experience certainly got our attention"
v 1: go or live through; "We had many trials to go through"; "he
saw action in Viet Nam" [syn: experience, see, {go
through}]
2: have firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or
sensations; "I know the feeling!"; "have you ever known
hunger?"; "I have lived a kind of hell when I was a drug
addict"; "The holocaust survivors have lived a nightmare"; "I
lived through two divorces" [syn: know, experience,
live]
3: go through (mental or physical states or experiences); "get
an idea"; "experience vertigo"; "get nauseous"; "receive
injuries"; "have a feeling" [syn: experience, receive,
have, get]
4: undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of
mind; "She felt resentful"; "He felt regret" [syn: feel,
experience]
5: undergo; "The stocks had a fast run-up" [syn: have,
experience]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Experience \Ex*pe"ri*ence\ ([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*ens), n. [F.
exp['e]rience, L. experientia, tr. experiens, experientis, p.
pr. of experiri, expertus, to try; ex out + the root of
peritus experienced. See Peril, and cf. Expert.]
1. Trial, as a test or experiment. [Obs.]
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She caused him to make experience
Upon wild beasts. --Spenser.
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2. The effect upon the judgment or feelings produced by any
event, whether witnessed or participated in; personal and
direct impressions as contrasted with description or
fancies; personal acquaintance; actual enjoyment or
suffering. "Guided by other's experiences." --Shak.
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I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and
that is the lamp of experience. --P. Henry
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To most men experience is like the stern lights of a
ship, which illumine only the track it has passed.
--Coleridge.
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When the consuls . . . came in . . . they knew soon
by experience how slenderly guarded against danger
the majesty of rulers is where force is wanting.
--Holland.
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Those that undertook the religion of our Savior upon
his preaching, had no experience of it. --Sharp.
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3. An act of knowledge, one or more, by which single facts or
general truths are ascertained; experimental or inductive
knowledge; hence, implying skill, facility, or practical
wisdom gained by personal knowledge, feeling or action;
as, a king without experience of war.
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Whence hath the mind all the materials of reason and
knowledge? To this I answer in one word, from
experience. --Locke.
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Experience may be acquired in two ways; either,
first by noticing facts without any attempt to
influence the frequency of their occurrence or to
vary the circumstances under which they occur; this
is observation; or, secondly, by putting in action
causes or agents over which we have control, and
purposely varying their combinations, and noticing
what effects take place; this is experiment. --Sir
J. Herschel.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Experience \Ex*pe"ri*ence\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Experienced
([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*enst); p. pr. & vb. n. Experiencing
([e^]ks*p[=e]"r[i^]*en*s[i^]ng).]
1. To make practical acquaintance with; to try personally; to
prove by use or trial; to have trial of; to have the lot
or fortune of; to have befall one; to be affected by; to
feel; as, to experience pain or pleasure; to experience
poverty; to experience a change of views.
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The partial failure and disappointment which he had
experienced in India. --Thirwall.
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2. To exercise; to train by practice.
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The youthful sailors thus with early care
Their arms experience, and for sea prepare. --Harte.
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To experience religion (Theol.), to become a convert to the
doctrines of Christianity; to yield to the power of
religious truth.
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