apperception
/ˌæpəˈsɛpʃən/
apperception means the mind's perception of itself as the subject or actor in its own states, unifying past and present experiences; self-consciousness, perception that reflects upon itself. It carries an Arena rating of 1506, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, apperception ranks #516 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,598 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #2,203 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #6,242 of 17,151 for The Improbable.
apperception is pronounced /ˌæpəˈsɛpʃən/.
Why “apperception” is a great word
The mental process by which a new perception or experience is assimilated into and understood in relation to the totality of one's past experience and consciousness. From French aperception, from New Latin apperceptiō (used by Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)), from Latin ad- ("to") + percipere ("to seize, perceive"); first recorded in English 1745–55. Unlike "perception" (the raw, unprocessed registration of sensory data) or "introspection" (the deliberate, conscious examination of one's own thoughts), apperception is the automatic, background weaving of the new into the tapestry of the old. It is the way the smell of wet pavement after rain becomes not merely weather but a specific summer in childhood, the manner in which a stranger's gesture of kindness rearranges itself against every betrayal you have survived, the instant when a piece of music heard in a foreign city slots into the architecture of your loneliness—consciousness not as a window but as a room that reshapes itself around whatever enters it.
Etymology
Borrowed from French aperception (New Latin apperceptiō, used by Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)).
noun
- The mind's perception of itself as the subject or actor in its own states, unifying past and present experiences; self-consciousness, perception that reflects upon itself.
- Psychological or mental perception; recognition.e.g.“Conception is... the simplest act of thinking; it is the apprehension of the universal, as perception is the apperception of the particular.” — 1887, John Dewey, Psychology:
- The general process or a particular act of mental assimilation of new experience into the totality of one's past experience.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.