experience

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The knowledge or skill you gain from doing something over time.

   The experience I gained in six months on the job eclipsed what I had learned in school.

2. 2
   noun

   Something that happens to you and affects how you feel or think.

   Living abroad was an experience he would never forget.

Common collocations

• have experience Verb + noun
• personal experience Adjective + noun
• valuable experience Adjective + noun
• work experience Adjective + noun
• gain experience Verb + noun
• lack experience Verb + noun
• share an experience Verb + noun
• first-hand experience Adjective + noun

From Middle English experience, 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. Displaced native Old English āfandung (“experience”) and āfandian (“to experience”).

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