perceptible

adjective

per·​cep·​ti·​ble pər-ˈsep-tə-bəl How to pronounce perceptible (audio)
: capable of being perceived especially by the senses
a perceptible change in her tone
a barely perceptible light
perceptibility noun
perceptibly adverb

Did you know?

See here: if something is perceptible, you can perceive it (“to notice or become aware of”) or capture it with your senses. Those who are linguistically perceptive may wonder if perceptible comes to us from Latin. It does indeed. Arriving in English by way of Late Latin perceptibilis, perceptible comes from a form of percipere (“to perceive”), which comes from Latin capere (“to take”) and the prefix per- (“thoroughly”). Perceptible shares the capere part of its ancestry with a number of other English words related to seizing or being seized, including capture, captor, captivate, and even catch. An even closer relation of perceptible is perceptive: while perceptible describes what can be perceived, perceptive describes the one who does the perceiving. Perceptive was formed in English from perception, which is also from percipere.

Choose the Right Synonym for perceptible

perceptible, sensible, palpable, tangible, appreciable, ponderable mean apprehensible as real or existent.

perceptible applies to what can be discerned by the senses often to a minimal extent.

a perceptible difference in sound to a careful listener

sensible applies to whatever is clearly apprehended through the senses or impresses itself strongly on the mind.

an abrupt, sensible drop in temperature

palpable applies either to what has physical substance or to what is obvious and unmistakable.

the tension in the air was almost palpable

tangible suggests what is capable of being handled or grasped both physically and mentally.

no tangible evidence of UFOs

appreciable applies to what is distinctly discernible by the senses or definitely measurable.

an appreciable increase in income

ponderable suggests having definitely measurable weight or importance.

exerted a ponderable influence on world events

Examples of perceptible in a Sentence

The sound was barely perceptible. There was a perceptible change in the audience's mood.
Recent Examples on the Web Some of these changes are barely perceptible; others create new landmarks, transforming the city. Eva Wen, Journal Sentinel, 6 Mar. 2024 As ever, her style is spare: hair pulled back, a barely perceptible chain at her neck (its pendant tucked under her dress collar) and a dark navy dress stopping just short of black, the color of mourning. Rhonda Garelick, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2024 That was followed by several minutes of deep breaths until his breathing slowed and was no longer perceptible. Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 26 Jan. 2024 A lot of change is undramatic growth, transformation, or decay, or rather its timescale means the drama might not be perceptible to the impatient. Krista Stevens, Longreads, 24 Jan. 2024 The apple is the centerpiece, but a barely perceptible earthiness creeps through to remind you of the carrot. The Indianapolis Star, 19 Jan. 2024 Plus, there’s no perceptible handover between regeneration to the motors and the bite of the calipers. Sean Evans, Robb Report, 25 Nov. 2023 For day-to-day decisions, coin tosses are as good as random because a 1 percent bias isn't perceptible with just a few coin flips, says statistician Amelia McNamara of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, who wasn't involved in the new research. Shi En Kim, Scientific American, 14 Dec. 2023 Euclid will also help cosmologists study how barely perceptible fluctuations in sound energy in the early Universe, called baryon acoustic oscillations, led to the patterns of galaxy formation and clustering that spread throughout the cosmos over billions of years. Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 1 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'perceptible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1567, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of perceptible was in 1567

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Dictionary Entries Near perceptible

Cite this Entry

“Perceptible.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perceptible. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

perceptible

adjective
per·​cep·​ti·​ble pər-ˈsep-tə-bəl How to pronounce perceptible (audio)
: capable of being noticed or observed
a perceptible change
perceptibly adverb

Medical Definition

perceptible

adjective
per·​cep·​ti·​ble pər-ˈsep-tə-bəl How to pronounce perceptible (audio)
: capable of being perceived especially by the senses
barely perceptible motion
sound perceptible by the human ear
perceptibility noun
plural perceptibilities
perceptibly adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on perceptible

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