What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Discern vs Wise - What's the difference?

discern | wise |

As a verb discern

is to detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.

As an acronym wise is

(aviation|nautical) (adjective).

discern

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1875 , author=Jules Verne , title=The Survivors of the Chancellor , chapter=1 citation , passage=Meanwhile the brig had altered her tack, and was moving slowly to the east. Three hours later and the keenest eye could not have discerned her top-sails above the horizon.}}
  • To perceive, recognize, or comprehend with the mind; to descry.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1842 , author=Charles Dickens , title=American Notes for General Circulation citation , passage=If they discern' any evidences of wrong-going in any direction that I have indicated, they will acknowledge that I had reason in what I wrote. If they ' discern no such thing, they will consider me altogether mistaken.}}
  • To distinguish something as being different from something else; to differentiate.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1651 , author=Thomas Hobbes , title=Leviathan citation , passage=The severity of judgement, they say, makes men censorious and unapt to pardon the errors and infirmities of other men: and on the other side, celerity of fancy makes the thoughts less steady than is necessary to discern exactly between right and wrong.}}
    He was too young to discern right from wrong.
  • To perceive differences.
  • Derived terms

    * discernible * discernment * indiscernible

    Anagrams

    * *

    wise

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) wis, wys, from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch wijs, German weise, Swedish vis. Compare wit.

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Showing good judgement or the benefit of experience.
  • Storing extra food for the winter was a wise decision.
    They were considered the wise old men of the administration.
    "It is a profitable thing, if one is wise , to seem foolish" - Aeschylus
  • (colloquial) Disrespectful.
  • Don't get wise with me!
    Usage notes
    * Objects: person, decision, advice, counsel, saying, etc.
    Antonyms
    * unwise * foolish
    Derived terms
    * crack wise * wisdom * wiseacre * wise apple * wiseass * wisecrack * wise guy * wise-hearted * wiseling * wiselike * wiseness * wizen * wizard * word to the wise

    Verb

    (wis)
  • To become wise.
  • (ergative, slang) Usually with "up", to inform or learn.
  • Mo wised him up about his situation.
    ''After Mo had a word with him, he wised up.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) Way, manner, method.
  • * 1850 , The Burden of Nineveh , lines 2-5
  • ... the prize
    Dead Greece vouchsafes to living eyes, —
    Her Art for ever in fresh wise
    From hour to hour rejoicing me.
  • * 1866 , , A Ballad of Life , lines 28-30
  • A riven hood was pulled across his eyes;
    The token of him being upon this wise
    Made for a sign of Lust.
  • * 1926 , J. S. Fletcher, Sea Fog , page 308
  • And within a few minutes the rest of us were on our way too, judiciously instructed by Parkapple and the Brighton official, and disposed of in two taxi-cabs, the drivers of which were ordered to convey us to Rottingdean in such wise that each set his load of humanity at different parts of the village and at the same time that the bus was due to arrive at the hotel.
    Derived terms
    * -wise

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

  • (dialectal) to instruct
  • (dialectal) to advise; induce
  • (dialectal) to show the way, guide
  • (dialectal) to direct the course of, pilot
  • (dialectal) to cause to turn