experience

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin experientia (“a trial, proof, experiment, experimental knowledge, experience”), from experiens, present participle of experiri (“to try, put to the test, undertake, undergo”), from ex (“out”) + peritus (“experienced, expert”), past participle of *periri (“to go through”); see expert and peril.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspɪɹ.i.əns/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈspɪə.ɹɪəns/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: ex‧pe‧ri‧ence

experience (countable and uncountable, plural experiences)

1. (countable, uncountable) Event(s) of which one is cognizant.

   It was an experience he would not soon forget.

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:

     “I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. …”

2. (countable) An activity one has performed.
3. (countable) A collection of events and/or activities from which an individual or group may gather knowledge, opinions, and skills.
4. (uncountable) The knowledge thus gathered.
   • 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:

     In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

• Adjectives often applied to "experience": broad, wide, good, bad, great, amazing, horrible, terrible, pleasant, unpleasant, educational, financial, military, commercial, academic, political, industrial, sexual, romantic, religious, mystical, spiritual, psychedelic, scientific, human, magical, intense, deep, humbling, unforgettable, unique, exciting, exhilarating.

• inexperience

• (activity one has performed): user experience

experience (third-person singular simple present experiences, present participle experiencing, simple past and past participle experienced)

1. (transitive) To observe certain events; undergo a certain feeling or process; or perform certain actions that may alter one or contribute to one's knowledge, opinions, or skills.

• undergo

• experienceable
• re-experience. reexperience

• experience on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• experience in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• experience in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• experience at OneLook Dictionary Search
• "experience" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 126.