perceptible
adjective
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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.
Examples of perceptible in a Sentence
Eli Amdur, Forbes.com, 10 May 2025
These barely perceptible shifts — caused by moving water, tectonic activity or shifting rock — offer clues about what lies beneath the planet's surface.
—Victoria Corless, Space.com, 17 Apr. 2025
That route, however, will lead to a perceptible increase in health insurance premiums for workers and families across the board.
—Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 6 Mar. 2025
Some economists disagree, arguing that the perceptible price increases that would result from ending the de minimis rule prompted Trump to keep it in place.
—Tobias Burns, The Hill, 10 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for perceptible
Cite this Entry
“Perceptible.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perceptible. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
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perceptible
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perceptible
adjective
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