All 15 Uses
discern
in
Jude the Obscure
(Auto-generated)
- V During the three or four succeeding years a quaint and singular vehicle might have been discerned moving along the lanes and by-roads near Marygreen, driven in a quaint and singular way.†
Part 1discerned = noticed something that is not obvious
- He looked closely, and could just discern in the damp dust the imprints of their feet as they had stood locked in each other's arms.†
Part 1 *discern = notice or understand something
- They were, in fact, on one of the summits of the county, and the distant landscape around Christminster could be discerned from where they lay.†
Part 1discerned = noticed something that is not obvious
- By the light of a match he could still discern what he had cut so enthusiastically so long ago: THITHER J. F. [with a pointing finger] The sight of it, unimpaired, within its screen of grass and nettles, lit in his soul a spark of the old fire.†
Part 1discern = notice or understand something
- In the dim light and the baffling glare of the clerestory windows he could discern the opposite worshippers indistinctly only, but he saw that Sue was among them.†
Part 2
- Though the figures were many yards away from her the south-west sun brought them out so brilliantly against the green herbage that she could discern their contours with luminous distinctness; and being almost in a line between herself and the church towers of the city they awoke in her an oddly foreign and contrasting set of ideas by comparison.†
Part 2
- She was of an age which usually sleeps soundly, yet to-night she kept waking up, and every time she opened her eyes there was enough diffused light from the street to show her the white plaster figures, standing on the chest of drawers in odd contrast to their environment of text and martyr, and the Gothic-framed Crucifix-picture that was only discernible now as a Latin cross, the figure thereon being obscured by the shades.†
Part 2discernible = possible to notice or understand
- More lanterns were procured, and the river examined; and then, at last, on the opposite shore, which was open to the fields, some little boot-tracks were discerned in the mud, which left no doubt that the too excitable girl had waded through a depth of water reaching nearly to her shoulders—for this was the chief river of the county, and was mentioned in all the geography books with respect.†
Part 3discerned = noticed something that is not obvious
- Then, in illustration of what he had begun to discern as one of her redeeming characteristics there came promptly a note, which she must have written almost immediately he had gone from her: Forgive me for my petulance yesterday!†
Part 3discern = notice or understand something
- Above it he could just discern the pinnacled tower of Trinity Church.†
Part 4
- Nevertheless Cartlett's view of the lovers' or married pair's conduct was undoubtedly that of the general crowd, whose attention seemed to be in no way attracted by what Arabella's sharpened vision discerned.†
Part 5discerned = noticed something that is not obvious
- The outlines of Rubric College also were discernible beyond the other, and the tower of a third farther off still.†
Part 6discernible = possible to notice or understand
- High overhead, above the chancel steps, Jude could discern a huge, solidly constructed Latin cross—as large, probably, as the original it was designed to commemorate.†
Part 6discern = notice or understand something
- Sue's slim shape was only just discernible going towards the station.†
Part 6discernible = possible to notice or understand
- A silent, undiscerned resolve grew up in him, which gave him, if not strength, stability and calm.†
Part 6undiscerned = not noticedstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in undiscerned means not and reverses the meaning of discerned. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definitions:
-
(1)
(discern) to notice or understand something -- often something that is not obvious
- (2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)