How to Use discern in a Sentence

discern

verb

• The reasons behind this sudden change are difficult to discern.
• Despite the layers of ironic hesitation, the reader soon discerns that the emotions informing the book are raw and, more importantly, authentic.
  — Publishers Weekly, 13 Dec. 1999
• The costs of the delays were not hard to discern, though.
  — Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, 19 July 2022
• The sources of the Gulf states’ anger are not hard to discern.
  — Jordan Michael Smith, The New Republic, 11 Mar. 2022
• Even toes can be discerned in a few of the sauropod prints.
  — Kathleen McLaughlin, Science | AAAS, 21 June 2017
• That could take months, years or even decades to discern.
  — Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 11 Mar. 2021
• Of course, the layperson cannot always discern much from the soil.
  — Elizabeth Waddington, Treehugger, 20 Feb. 2023
• But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to discern where the shrapnel lands.
  — New York Times, 3 May 2022
• Our job is trying to discern what is a true threat and what isn’t.
  — oregonlive, 14 Jan. 2021
• But there's no way to discern when any of them were posted.
  — Wired, 3 Oct. 2019
• The contours of this change are still a bit difficult to discern.
  — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 15 Dec. 2020
• That's going to be sort of easy to discern after all this is over.
  — NBC News, 12 June 2022
• The ability to discern this is a key attribute of a leader.
  — Bill Edwards, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2021
• The reason for a recent spike in theft at grocery stores is not hard to discern.
  — Ann Larson, The New Republic, 5 Mar. 2021
• The driving purpose of these images is not hard to discern.
  — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2022
• It’s too early to discern a trend in how the courts are viewing the merits of these claims.
  — oregonlive, 23 Mar. 2021
• Close up, the markings on the hillside were hard to discern, and even harder to make sense of.
  — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 12 May 2021
• Too grainy to discern the marks or even say for sure the photos were of Jennifer.
  — Megan O’Matz, ProPublica, 16 Sep. 2021
• The trends for older children are much harder to discern.
  — Apoorva Mandavilli, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2020
• In its surface, the chief discerned the face of the Prophet Muhammad.
  — Michael Lapointe, The Atlantic, 11 May 2018
• The initial point of contact was hard to discern, even on replay.
  — CBS News, 2 May 2018
• Being able to discern if your decision comes from a place of burnout is key.
  — Robin Ryan, Forbes, 29 June 2021
• By the end of the play, divine providence is much harder to discern.
  — The Economist, 12 July 2018
• This means their brains allow them to discern distances.
  — CBS News, 9 Jan. 2020
• With the help of a rod, Manqui can discern what the earth beneath her holds.
  — Longreads, 8 Apr. 2021
• On pressured water, trout have learned to discern the phonies.
  — John Merwin, Field & Stream, 23 June 2020
• His discerning eye at the plate keeps him among the league leaders in walks and on-base percentage.
  — Mike Digiovanna, latimes.com, 1 July 2019
• Audio in the cellphone video shot by a witness is hard to discern due to bystanders’ shouts.
  — Eric Litke, USA TODAY, 28 Aug. 2020
• His legacy, and that of the Post Pub, are harder to discern.
  — Tim Carman, Washington Post, 3 July 2020
• As with any disease, the numbers need to decline for at least a week to discern any real trend.
  — Phil Galewitz, azcentral, 17 Apr. 2020

Last Updated: 27 Mar 2024