as in to differentiate
to understand or point out the difference in those philistines who seemingly cannot secern artistic depiction of the nude from blatant pornography

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for secern
Verb
  • Acute cystitis can be differentiated with a urine culture (used to isolate and identify bacteria).
    MD Published, PEOPLE, 2 Oct. 2025
  • For example, in some cases, Koestline says synthetic exosomes are enhanced with surface proteins to differentiate them from traditional liposomes and improve their targeting.
    Victoria Moorhouse, Allure, 1 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, has tallied more than 66,000 deaths from Israel’s military operations, though that total does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
    Mike Brest, The Washington Examiner, 6 Oct. 2025
  • And investors have a hard time in the middle of this excitement, distinguishing between the good ideas and the bad ideas.
    Arjun Kharpal, CNBC, 3 Oct. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Secern.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/secern. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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