Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense experiences, present participle experiencing, past tense, past participle experienced
1. uncountable noun
Experience is knowledge or skill in a particular job or activity, which you have gained because you have done that job or activity for a long time.
He has also had managerial experience on every level.
His mother's had plenty of experience taking care of the twins for him.
2. uncountable noun
Experience is used to refer to the past events, knowledge, and feelings that make up someone's life or character.
I should not be in any danger here, but experience has taught me caution.
She had learned from experience to take little rests in between her daily routine.
'If you act afraid, they won't let go,' he says, speaking from experience.
3. countable noun
An experience is something that you do or that happens to you, especially something important that affects you.
Moving had become a common experience for me.
His only experience of gardening so far proved immensely satisfying. [+ of]
Many of his clients are unbelievably nervous, usually because of a bad experiencein the past.
4. verb
If you experience a particular situation, you are in that situation or it happens to you.
We had never experienced this kind of holiday before and had no idea what to expect. [VERB noun]
British business is now experiencing a severe recession. [VERB noun]
5. verb
If you experience a feeling, you feel it or are affected by it.
If you experience dizziness or drowsiness, do not drive or operate machinery. [VERB noun]
Experience is also a noun.
...the experience of pain. [+ of]
More Synonyms of experience
experience in British English
(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.
a.
the totality of characteristics, both past and present, that make up the particular quality of a person, place, or people
b.
the impact made on an individual by the culture of a people, nation, etc
the American experience
5. philosophy
a.
the content of a perception regarded as independent of whether the apparent object actually exists
Compare sense datum
b.
the faculty by which a person acquires knowledge of contingent facts about the world, as contrasted with reason
c.
the totality of a person's perceptions, feelings, and memories
verb(transitive)
6.
to participate in or undergo
7.
to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by; feel
to experience beauty
Derived forms
experienceable (exˈperienceable)
adjective
Word origin
C14: from Latin experientia, from experīrī to prove; related to Latin perīculumperil
experience in American English
(ɛkˈspɪriəns; ɪkˈspɪriəns)
noun
1.
the act of living through an event or events; personal involvement in or observationof events as they occur
2.
anything observed or lived through
an experience he'll never forget
3.
a.
all that has happened in one's life to date
not within his experience
b.
everything done or undergone by a group, people in general, etc.
4.
the effect on a person of anything or everything that has happened to that person;individual reaction to events, feelings, etc.
5.
a.
activity that includes training, observation of practice, and personal participation
b.
the period of such activity
c.
knowledge, skill, or practice resulting from this
verb transitiveWord forms: exˈperienced or exˈperiencing
6.
to have experience of; personally encounter or feel; meet with; undergo
Word origin
ME < OFr < L experientia, trial, proof, experiment < experiens, prp. of experiri, to try, test: see peril
Examples of 'experience' in a sentence
experience
This year she released a book about her experiences.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Cue extreme irritation from anyone who has experienced actual grief.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They hold the knowledge and experience that needs to quickly cascade down.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
We asked you to tell us the companies you felt went that extra mile to make your holiday experiences exceptional.
The Sun (2016)
In effect what you are hoping to avoid happening and you experience what feels like an overreaction by others towards your illness.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They must not take only City experience into account.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
I have had some bad experiences in the past.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Only the person experiencing the pain can know how bad that pain is,' she said.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The foundation also carries out research on the economic experiences of people who earn low wages.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
You know how it made you feel after one experience.
The Sun (2013)
You get a bit of a worldly experience to go with it.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The sales pitch suggests that the experience will build character and transform lives.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The younger players will remember today because sometimes a bad experience is actually better for you.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Yet she has also experienced the negative side of social media.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
That takes experience and a bit of knowhow.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Or do you just take a holiday to experience somewhere real?
David Boyle AUTHENTICITY: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life (2003)
He has so much experience and knowledge.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
We know from experience that beauty is fleeting.
Christianity Today (2000)
It can make the whole experience far more pleasant.
The Sun (2013)
Many people experience grief in an angry way.
Knowles, Jane Know Your Own Mind (1991)
They do a mixture of classroom learning and gaining experience on the job.
The Sun (2011)
The first is that experience is important.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
That is par for the course and on past experience is about to come to an end.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The ideal seemed so remote from actual experience that neither could view it as realistic.
A Conceptual View of Human Resource Management: Strategic Objectives, Environments,Functions
You have to experience festivals in person to truly understand what is happening.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
We have experienced some bad times together.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
They are often able to speed up the mortgage process because of their experience and contacts.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
There is a yearning here for common experience.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
This will get easier as you become more experienced in looking after your own health care.
Westcott, Patsy Alternative Health Care for Women (1991)
This season we should take care of it because we have the experience to take care of it.
The Sun (2013)
The fund helps entrepreneurs and academics, who often have little or no business experience.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Quotations
Trust one who has gone through itVirgilAeneid
Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens tohimAldous HuxleyTexts and Pretexts
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakesOscar WildeLady Windermere's Fan
All experience is an arch to build uponHenry Brooks AdamsThe Education of Henry Adams
What poor education I have received has been gained in the University of LifeHoratio Bottomley
If you have lived one day you have seen everything; one day is the same as all the othersMontaigneEssais
Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced Even a Proverb is no proverb to you till your Life has illustrated itJohn Keatsletter to George and Georgiana Keats
Experience is the mother of wisdom
Experience is the best teacher
In other languages
experience
British English: experience /ɪkˈspɪərɪəns/ NOUN
Experience is knowledge or skill in a particular job or activity, which you have gained from doing that job or activity.
She has experience of working with children.
American English: experience
Arabic: خِبْرَة
Brazilian Portuguese: experiência
Chinese: 经验
Croatian: iskustvo
Czech: zkušenosti
Danish: erfaring
Dutch: ervaring
European Spanish: experiencia
Finnish: kokemus
French: expérience événement
German: Erfahrung
Greek: εμπειρία
Italian: esperienza
Japanese: 経験
Korean: 경험
Norwegian: erfaring
Polish: doświadczenie
European Portuguese: experiência
Romanian: experiență
Russian: опыт
Latin American Spanish: experiencia
Swedish: upplevelse
Thai: ประสบการณ์
Turkish: deneyim
Ukrainian: досвід
Vietnamese: kinh nghiệm
All related terms of 'experience'
re-experience
to participate in or undergo (an event or experience) again
peak experience
a state of extreme euphoria or ecstasy , often attributed to religious or mystical causes
work experience
experience of working
experience rating
Experience rating is a method of adjusting the premium for a risk based on past loss experience for that risk compared to loss experience for an average risk.
experience table
an actuarial table , esp a mortality table based on past statistics
colonial experience
experience of farming , etc, gained by a young Englishman in colonial Australia
customer experience
Customer experience is what customers feel while shopping , affected by such factors as how a store is laid out, the level of service they receive, and how easy it is to find products.
experience a loss
The loss of a relative or friend is their death.
experience hardship
Hardship is a situation in which your life is difficult or unpleasant , often because you do not have enough money.
girlfriend experience
a service provided by a prostitute that includes more personal activity, such as kissing , than provided traditionally by sex workers
experience a problem
A problem is a situation that is unsatisfactory and causes difficulties for people.
near-death experience
A near-death experience is a strange experience that some people who have nearly died say they had when they were unconscious .
out-of-body experience
a vivid feeling of being detached from one's body, usually involving observing it and its environment from nearby
out-of-the-body experience
a vivid feeling of being detached from one's body, usually involving observing it and its environment from nearby
Chinese translation of 'experience'
experience
(ɪksˈpɪərɪəns)
n
(u) (in job) 经(經)验(驗) (jīngyàn)
⇒ He has managerial experience.他有管理经验。 (Tā yǒu guǎnlǐ jīngyàn.)
⇒ The funeral was a painful experience.那次追悼会是个痛苦的经历。 (Nà cì zhuīdàohuì shì gè tòngkǔ de jīnglì.)
vt
[feeling, problem]体(體)验(驗) (tǐyàn)
to know from experience根据(據)经(經)验(驗)知道 (gēnjù jīngyàn zhīdào)
to learn from experience从(從)经(經)验(驗)中学(學)到 (cóng jīngyàn zhōng xuédào)
1 (noun)
Definition
accumulated knowledge, esp. of practical matters
He lacks experience of international rugby.
Synonyms
knowledge
understanding
They have to have a basic understanding of computers.
practice
They advocate self-knowledge through the practice of yoga.
skill
The cut of a diamond depends on the skill of its craftsman.
evidence
trial
contact
expertise
the lack of management expertise within the company
know-how (informal)
He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.
proof
involvement
exposure
Repeated exposure to the music reveals its hidden depths.
observation
participation
familiarity
The enemy would always have the advantage of familiarity with the rugged terrain.
practical knowledge
2 (noun)
Definition
a particular incident, feeling, etc., that a person has undergone
It was an experience I would not like to go through again.
Synonyms
event
in the wake of recent events in Europe
affair
Breakfast will be a cheerless affair for the minister this morning.
incident
They have not based it on any incident from the past.
happening
plans to hire freelance reporters to cover the latest happenings
test
trial
encounter
episode
an unhappy episode in my life
adventure
I set off for a new adventure in the US on the first day of the year.
ordeal
the painful ordeal of identifying the body
occurrence
Traffic jams are now a daily occurrence.
(verb)
Definition
to be moved by
couples who have experienced the trauma of divorce
Synonyms
undergo
New recruits have been undergoing training in recent weeks.
have
He might be having a heart attack.
know
Hire someone with experience, someone who knows about real estate.
feel
He was still feeling pain from a stomach injury.
try
meet
Never had she met such spite and pettiness.
face
She looked relaxed and calm as she faced the press.
suffer
The peace process has suffered a serious blow now.
taste
He had tasted outdoor life, and didn't want to come home.
go through
observe
sample
We sampled a selection of different bottled waters.
encounter
Every day we encounter stresses of one kind or another.
sustain
Every aircraft in there has sustained some damage.
perceive
He was beginning to perceive the true nature of their relationship.
endure
He'd endured years of pain and sleepless nights because of arthritis.
participate in
run into
live through
behold (archaic, literary)
come up against
apprehend
become familiar with
Quotations
Trust one who has gone through it [Virgil – Aeneid]Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him [Aldous Huxley – Texts and Pretexts]Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes [Oscar Wilde – Lady Windermere's Fan]All experience is an arch to build upon [Henry Brooks Adams – The Education of Henry Adams]What poor education I have received has been gained in the University of Life [Horatio Bottomley]If you have lived one day you have seen everything; one day is the same as all the others [Montaigne – Essais]Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced Even a Proverb is no proverb to you till your Life has illustrated it [John Keats – letter to George and Georgiana Keats]
proverbs
Experience is the mother of wisdomExperience is the best teacher
Additional synonyms
in the sense of adventure
Definition
a risky undertaking, the ending of which is uncertain
I set off for a new adventure in the US on the first day of the year.
Synonyms
venture,
experience,
chance,
risk,
incident,
enterprise,
speculation,
undertaking,
exploit,
fling,
hazard,
occurrence,
contingency,
caper,
escapade
in the sense of affair
Definition
something previously specified
Breakfast will be a cheerless affair for the minister this morning.
Synonyms
occasion,
happening,
experience,
event,
celebration,
occurrence
in the sense of encounter
Definition
to be faced with
Every day we encounter stresses of one kind or another.