a particular instance of personally encountering or undergoing something: My encounter with the bear in the woods was a frightening experience.
the process or fact of personally observing, encountering, or undergoing something: business experience.
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.
knowledge or practical wisdom gained from what one has observed, encountered, or undergone: a man of experience.
Philosophy. the totality of the cognitions given by perception; all that is perceived, understood, and remembered.
verb (used with object),ex·pe·ri·enced,ex·pe·ri·enc·ing.
to have experience of; meet with; undergo; feel: to experience nausea.
to learn by experience.
Idioms for experience
experience religion, to undergo a spiritual conversion by which one gains or regains faith in God.
Origin of experience
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, Middle French, from Latin experientia, equivalent to experient- (stem of experiēns, past participle of experīrī “to try, test”; see ex-1, peril) + -ia noun suffix; see -ence
SYNONYMS FOR experience
6 encounter, know, endure, suffer.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR experience ON THESAURUS.COM
synonym study for experience
6. Experience,undergo refer to encountering situations, conditions, etc., in life, or to having certain sensations or feelings. Experience implies being affected by what one meets with: to experience a change of heart, bitter disappointment.Undergo usually refers to the bearing or enduring of something hard, difficult, disagreeable, or dangerous: to undergo severe hardships, an operation.
OTHER WORDS FROM experience
ex·pe·ri·ence·a·ble,adjectiveex·pe·ri·ence·less,adjectivepost·ex·pe·ri·ence,adjectivepre·ex·pe·ri·ence,noun,verb (used with object),pre·ex·pe·ri·enced,pre·ex·pe·ri·enc·ing.
expendable, expenditure, expense, expense account, expensive, experience, experienced, Experience is the best teacher, experience meeting, experience point, experiencer
When you go to a restaurant, you are as much responsible for having a good experience as the restaurant is for providing it.
Christian Puglisi Is Closing His Influential Copenhagen Restaurants. COVID Is Only Partly to Blame|Rafael Tonon|September 17, 2020|Eater
Gibbs has little experience in federal personnel matters, having worked mainly in the software industry before going to HUD, where he oversees a community planning and development office.
Committee delays vote on former political commentator to head Office of Personnel Management|Eric Yoder|September 16, 2020|Washington Post
Warner Bros’ sci-fi thriller was viewed as the main litmus test for whether audiences were ready to embrace the theatrical experience again, after nearly six months of shuttered theaters due to the pandemic.
The North American box office isn’t bouncing back that fast|radmarya|September 14, 2020|Fortune
I think there’s a narrative that we can learn on the job, and I do believe a lot of people can, and have, but felt that learning from other people’s experiences and from experts made more sense to me.
A Very Informal Interview with Mitsu Iwasaki|Brendan Leonard|September 14, 2020|Outside Online
At a time when people are not together, create a shared experience where people can come together.
Snap is exploring bringing ads to Minis|Lara O'Reilly|September 14, 2020|Digiday
Women are more likely to recover sooner from birth and less likely to experience post-partum depression.
How Good Dads Can Change the World|Gary Barker, PhD, Michael Kaufman|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He flew with Captain Irianto, 53, who had 20,000 hours experience, more than 6,000 hours on the A320.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501|Clive Irving|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Faal has some experience in both political and security matters, it seems.
The Shadowy U.S. Veteran Who Tried to Overthrow a Country|Jacob Siegel|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
At such a moment, the pilot has no resources other than his own instincts and experience.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The shared feelings, the bubbling emotion, the awe: she became an experience.
Bow Down, Bitches: How Beyoncé Turned an Elevator Brawl Into a Perfect Year|Kevin Fallon|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Thus my memory was really correct; I had merely forgotten the experience to which it referred.
Criminal Psychology|Hans Gross
This seems good a priori reasoning, but experience does not confirm it.
Cornell Nature-Study Leaflets|Various
Experience, at this rate, would be much like a paint of which the world pictures were made.
Essays in Radical Empiricism|William James
Experience has made it well known that the children of the aged readily show degenerate types.
Degeneracy|Eugene S. Talbot
To one experience of my tour as a lecturer I shall always be able to look back with satisfaction.
My Discovery of England|Stephen Leacock
British Dictionary definitions for experience
experience
/ (ɪkˈspɪərɪəns) /
noun
direct personal participation or observation; actual knowledge or contactexperience of prison life
a particular incident, feeling, etc, that a person has undergonean experience to remember
accumulated knowledge, esp of practical mattersa man of experience
the totality of characteristics, both past and present, that make up the particular quality of a person, place, or people
the impact made on an individual by the culture of a people, nation, etcthe American experience
philosophy
the content of a perception regarded as independent of whether the apparent object actually existsCompare sense datum
the faculty by which a person acquires knowledge of contingent facts about the world, as contrasted with reason
the totality of a person's perceptions, feelings, and memories
verb(tr)
to participate in or undergo
to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by; feelto experience beauty
Derived forms of experience
experienceable, adjective
Word Origin for experience
C14: from Latin experientia, from experīrī to prove; related to Latin perīculumperil