# experience

Pronunciation: say "ik-SPEER-ee-uhns" US /ɪkˈspɪɹ.i.əns/, UK /ɪkˈspɪə.ɹɪəns/

## Noun

1. The practical knowledge or skill a person acquires from accumulated events and activities.
   - Simple: The useful knowledge a person gains by doing things over a long time.
   - _Decades of experience told her the deal would collapse before it closed._
   - _The role calls for experience in managing large teams under pressure._
3. A particular activity or event that a person has taken part in.
   - Simple: Something you have done, often something new or worth remembering.
   - _The concert was an unforgettable experience for everyone there._
   - _Living abroad for a year proved to be a life-changing experience._
4. Direct personal contact with and observation of events, or everything a person or group has lived through, seen as the source of their knowledge and impressions.
   - Simple: What you have seen, felt, and lived through yourself, which shapes what you know and think.
   - _Watching the storm on TV was nothing like the experience of feeling it shake our own windows._
   - _There is no substitute for the experience of standing on the summit yourself._
5. In role-playing games, the points a character accumulates through actions in order to advance in level or ability.
   - Simple: Points a game character earns to grow stronger and reach the next level.
   - _Players grind low-level monsters to farm experience early in the game._
   - _Completing the side quest rewarded the whole party with bonus experience._

## Verb

2. To observe events, undergo a feeling or process, or perform actions that may change a person or add to their knowledge, opinions, or skills.
   - Simple: To go through something, like an event or a feeling, that may change you or teach you.
   - _Travelers often experience culture shock during their first weeks abroad._
   - _The patient experienced sharp chest pains throughout the night._

## Noun

6. A trial, test, or experiment carried out to establish or verify some fact. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A test or trial carried out to find something out.

## Origin

From Middle English experience, borrowed via Old French from Latin experientia ("a trial, proof, or knowledge gained by testing"), from experiri ("to try, put to the test, undergo"), from ex ("out") and a verbal base related to peritus ("experienced, expert"). It is related to expert and peril, and it displaced the native Old English āfandung.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/experience (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).