experience: Meaning and Definition of

ex•pe•ri•ence

Pronunciation: (ik-spēr'ē-uns), [key]
— n., v., -enced, -enc•ing.
—n.
  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. the totality of the cognitions given by perception; all that is perceived, understood, and remembered.
—v.t.
  1. to have experience of; meet with; undergo; feel: to experience nausea.
  2. to learn by experience.
  3. to undergo a spiritual conversion by which one gains or regains faith in God.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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