experience 
experience (eks-pe'H-ens), . [< ME. 
i ni-r, I'.i-jifi-ii-iin, < )!'. U'/H i-ti in-i; F. ejrjitirii I 
Pr. expei-ientid, eapi-rii-ntiii = Sp. 1'g. experiencta 
= It. espcrienza, uperienza, esperieiieia, /;/< - 
rin, < I;. (.!/'"'" "'"'- ll htali proof, experiment, 
experimental knowledge, experience, < '.'///- 
<((-)., ppr. of I'l'/H-rii-i. try, put to the test, un- 
dertake, undorgo,< ex, out, + "periri, go through, 
in pp. perititK, experienced, expert: see expert 
and/xrii.] 1. The state or fact of having made 
i rial or proof, or of having acquired knowledge, 
wisdom, skill, etc., by actual trial or observa- 
tion; also, the knowledge so acquired ; person- 
al and practical acquaintance with anything; 
experimental cognition or perception : as, he 
knows what suffering is by long experience; 
experience teaches even fools. 
He tlmt hath as much Kxperience of you as I have had 
will confess that the Handmaid of God Almighty was never 
so prodigal of her Gifts to any. tloweU, Letters, I. iv. 14. 
We were sufficiently instructed by experience what the 
holy Psalmist means by the Dew of llcrinon. our Tents 
living as wet with it ttll II had raln'd all Night. 
MtiiniilreU, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 67. 
A man of science who . . . had made experience of a 
spiritual allinity more attractive than any chemical one. 
Hawthorne, Birthmark. 
Till we have some experience of the duties of religion, 
we are incapable of entering duly Into the privileges. 
J. II. Xeirni'in, Parochial Sermons, i. 245. 
2. In philos., knowledge acquired through ex- 
ternal or internal perception ; also, the totality 
of the cognitions given by perception, taken in 
their connection ; all that is perceived, under- 
stood, and remembered. Locke defines it as our oh- 
eivation, emplojed cither about external sensible oh- 
j.-cts or about the internal operations of our minds, per- 
it ived and reflected upon by ourselves. The Latin ex- 
n< in was used in its philosophical sense by Celsus 
and others, and In thu middle ages by Roger Bacon. It 
translates the Greek inirtipia of the Stoics. See empiric. 
The great and indeed the only ultimate source of our 
knowledge of nature and her laws Is experience, by which 
we mean not the experience of one man only, or of one 
gem-ration, but the accumulated experience of all mankind 
in all ages, registered in books, or recorded by tradition. 
SirJ. Hertchel. 
The unity of experience embraces both the Inner and 
the outer life. E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 387. 
Specifically 3. That which has been learned, 
suffered, or done, considered as productive of 
practical judgment and skill; the sum of prac- 
tical wisdom taught by all the events, vicissi- 
tudes, and observations of one's life, or by any 
particular class or division of them. 
That which all men's experience, teacheth them may not 
in any wise be denied. Honker, Eccles. Polity, ill. 8. 
Who shall march out before ye, coy'd and courted 
Hy all the mistresses of war, care, counsel, 
Vuiek-ey'd experience, and victory twin'd to him? 
Fletcher, Bonduca, iv. 3. 
Knowledge conies, but wisdom lingers, and he bears a 
laden breast. 
Full of sad experience, moving toward the stillness of his 
rest. 7V;mi/x<m, Locksley Hall. 
In a world so charged and sparkling with power, a man 
does not live lung and actively without costly additions of 
fxperfein-'-, winch, though nut spoken, are recorded in his 
mind. Emergon, Old Age. 
4. An individual or particular instance of trial 
or observation. 
Real apprehension is, as I have said, in the first Instance 
an experience or information about the concrete. 
J. //. Sewinan, Gram, of Assent, p. 21. 
The like holds good with respect to the relations between 
sounds and vihratinifohjecta, which we learn onlybyagen- 
cralization of ftqpcnMIMfc It. Spencer, Prin. of Psycho!. 
This is what distance does for us ; the harsh and bitter 
features of this nr that experience arc slowly obliterated, 
and memory begins to look on the past II . /Mac*. 
6f. An experiment. 
She caused him to make experience 
Ipon wild Itcasts. Spenser, F. Q. 
If my affection l>c suspected, make 
/>/ riV/cr of my loyalty, by some service. 
Shirley, Love Tricks, i. 1. 
6. A fixed mental impression or emotion; spe- 
cifically, a guiding or controlling religious feel- 
ing, as at the time of conversion or resulting 
from subsequent influences. 
All that can be arg 1 from the purity and perfection 
of the word of (On!, with respect to *.(-/ T/. /i.vy. K this. 
that th'we tteptrience* which are agreeable to the word 
of God are right, and cannot lie otherwise ; and not that 
those iittVctions must be right which arise on occasion of 
tile Won | of i;oil I omilljr (o tile lllilld. 
>/, Works, III. 32. 
The rapture of the Moravian and (Jnietist, . . . the re- 
vival of the I'alvinistic churches, the experience* of the 
Metho.li --N. an \ arying forms of that shudder of awe and 
delight witli which the Individual soul ala>s mingles 
with tlie nnhers.-ii soul, /.'y/i'vjfw, Essays, 1st sor., p. 256. 
Experience meeting, a meeting, especially in the Meth- 
"d:st I'hurch. where the members relate their religious 
experiences ; a covenant or ,-ontYr. nr, mrrting. 
2079 
He is In that ecstasy of mind which prompts those who 
were never orators before to rise in an experience w 
mid pour <>ut a Hood of fcehn- in the tritest language and 
the most conventional terms. 
C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 127. 
-Syn. Experience, A>y rum nl, Observation. Experience 
is strictly that which Id-falls a man. or which lie goes 
through, while experiment Is that which one actively un- 
dertakes. Obtercation is looking on, without n. . < :H il\ 
having any connection with the matter : it is one thing to 
know of a man's goodness or of the horrors of war by ob- 
aereatitm, anil quite another to know of it or them by ex- 
perience. To know of a man's goodness by experiment 
would be to have put it to actual and intentional test. 
See prnfii*-''. 
experience (eks-pe'ri-ens), c. t. ; pret. and pp. 
e.rpi i-ii >in il. |i]ir. experiencing. [< experience, n.] 
1. To learn by practical trial or proof; try or 
prove by use, by suffering, or by enjoyment; 
have happen to or befall one ; acquire a per- 
ception of ; undergo: as, we all experience pain, 
sorrow, and pleasure ; we experience good and 
evil ; we often experience a change of sentiments 
and views, or pleasurable or painful sensations. 
Your soul will then experience the most terrible fears. 
Southwell, Poetical Works, Pref., p. 58. 
You have not yet experienced at her hands 
My treatment. Browning, Ring and Book, I. 309. 
2f. To practise or drill ; exercise. 
The youthful sailors thus with early care 
Their arms experience and for sea prepare. 
W. Harte, tr. of Sixth Thebald of Statins. 
To experience religion, to become converted. (Colloq. I 
I '.'/"''"'"''''' religion at one of brother Armstrong's 
protracted meetings. Widow Bedott Paper*, p. 108. 
experienced (eks-pe'ri-enst), 7). a. Taught by 
practice or by repeated observations ; skilful or 
wise by means of trials, use, or observation : as, 
an experienced artist ; an experienced physician. 
I esteem It a greater Advantage that so worthy and 
v/el\-experirnced a Knight as Sir Talbot Bows is to be my 
Collcgue and Fellow-Burgess. Umcell, Letters, I. v. 4. 
We must perfect, as much as we can, our ideas of the 
distinct species ; or learn them from such as are used to 
that sort of things, and are experienced in them. Locke. 
experiencer (eks-pe'ri-en-ser), n. One who 
experiences; one who makes trials or experi- 
ments. [Rare.] 
A curious experiencer did affirm that the likeness of 
any object, ... if strongly inlightned, will appear to an- 
other, in the eye of him that looks strongly anil steadily 
upon it, ... even after he shall have turned his eyes from 
It. Sir A'. Digtry, Nature of Bodies, vili. 
experientt (eks-pe'ri-ent), a. [< OF. experient, 
< L. experien(t-)s, ppf. of experiri: see experi- 
ence."] Experienced. 
Which wisdom sure he learn'd 
Of his experient father. 
Chapman, All Fools, 1. 1. 
Why Is the Prince, now ripe and full experient, 
Not made a dore in the State? 
Beau, and /''.. Cupid's Revenge, iii. 1. 
experiential (eks-pe-ri-en'shal), a. [< L. ex- 
perientia, experience, + -al.] Relating to or 
having experience ; derived from experience ; 
empirical. 
Again, what are called physical laws laws of nature 
are all generalisations from observation, are only empir- 
ical or experiential information. Sir W. Uamilton. 
It is evident that this distinction of necessary and 
experiential truths Involves the same antithesis which 
we have already considered the antithesis of thoughts 
and things. -Necessary truths are derived from our own 
th nights ; experiential truths are derived from our obser- 
vation of things about us. The opposition of necessary 
and experiential truths is another aspect of the funda- 
mental antithesis of philosophy. 
Whemll, Hist Scientific Ideas, I. 27. 
lint notwithstanding the utter darkness regarding ways 
and means, our imagination can reach much more readily 
the linal outcome of our transcendental than of our eri-- 
rientitil attitude. Mind, IX. 358. 
experientialism (eks-pe-ri-en'shal-izm), . [< 
i .i-/ii riential + -ism.'] The doctrine that all our 
knowledge has its origin in experience, and 
must submit to the test of experience. 
Expcricntiali*tn is, in short, a philosophical or logical 
theory, not a psychological one. O. C. Booertxim. 
experientialist (eks-pe-ri-en'shal-ist), n. and a. 
[< ,'speriential + -ixt.} I. n. One who holds the 
doctrines of experieutialism. 
II. a. Pertaining or relating to experiential- 
ism. 
experiment (eks-per'i-ment), n. [< ME. experi- 
ment = D. G. Dan. Sw. experiment, < OF. expi-ri- 
mait. experiment = Sp. Pg. experimento = It. es- 
perinientn, < L. experimentuni, a trial, test, ex- 
periment, < experiri. try. test : see experience."] 
1. A trial; a test: sjiei-itically. the operation 
of subjecting objects to certain conditions and 
observing the result, in order to test some prin- 
ciple or supposition, or to discover something 
new. 
experimentalize 
.it of i onitiiai'jomi tint eiiinly rlld vse ; 
With >J>1< ti "' MI spend thai there lyf. 
Destruction uj Tn,,i (\.. V. T. S.), 1. l:iJ17. 
A political experiment cannot he made In a laboratory, 
nor determined in a few hours. J. Adaiti*. 
Observation Is of two kinds : for either the objects which 
It considers remain um -hang. ,!. or. previous to Its applica- 
tion, they are made to undergo certain arbitrary rh:i 
or are placed In certain factitious relations. In the latlrr 
case the observation obtain- the -|,. . m. . , 
../-'. '' H"iuUton. 
All successful action Is successful experiment In tin- 
broadest sense of the term, and every mistake or failure 
is a negative experiment, which deters us from n petition. 
./front. Social Reform, p. 253. 
2f. A becoming practically acquainted with 
something; an experience. 
This was a useful experiment for our future conduct. 
Defoe. 
Cavendish's experiment, an important mechanical ex- 
periment, first actually made by Henry Cavendish, for the 
purpose of ascertaining the mean density of the earth 
by means of the torsion-balance. Controlling experi- 
ment. See control. = Syn. OAMrMtton, etc. (see ' 
ence), test, examination, assay. 
experiment (eks-per'i-ment), r. [= D. experi- 
menteren = (J. eiperimentiren = Dan. tiperimen- 
tere = Sw. expert mcntera, < F. erpi'riini'Hli'r (OF. 
espermenter) = Pr. experimental-, ' j/nrmentar = 
8p. Pg. exnerimentar = It. esperimciitare, sneri- 
mentare, < ML. experimen tare, experiment; from 
the noun.] I. intrans. To make trial ; make an 
experiment ; operate on a body in such a man- 
ner as to discover some unknown fact, or to 
establish it when known: as, philosophers ex- 
periment on natural bodies for the discovery of 
their qualities and combinations. 
We live, and they experiment on life, 
Those poets, painters, all who stand aloof 
To overlook the farther. Bromiiny, In a Balcony. 
n.t trans. 1. To try; search out by trial; 
put to the proof. 
This naphta is ... apt to Inflame with the sunbeams 
or heat that issues from fire ; as was mirthfully experi- 
mented on one of Alexander's pages. 
Sir T. Ilerhert, Travels In Africa. 
2. To know or perceive by experience ; expe- 
rience. 
When the succession of ideas ceases, our perception of 
duration ceases with it, which every one experimentt while 
he sleeps soundly. Locke. 
experimenta, . Plural of experimentuni. 
experimental (eks-per-i-men'tal), a. [= G.Dan. 
Sw. experimental (in comp.), ( F. experimental 
= Sp. Pg. experimental = It. enperimentale,< ML. 
'experimentalin, < L. experimentuni, experiment: 
see experiment.] 1. Pertaining to, derived from, 
founded on, or known by experiment; given 
to or skilled in experiment: as, experimental 
knowledge or philosophy ; an experimental phi- 
losopher. 
He (Calvert] was a liberal in politics, and had a lively, 
If amateurish, interest in experimental science. 
. Dowden, Shelley, I. 209. 
2. Taught by experience ; having personal ex- 
perience ; known by or derived from experi- 
ence; experienced. 
Trust not my reading, nor my observations, 
Which with cxpenmental seal doth warrant 
The teuour of my book. Stiak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 
Admit to the holy communion such only as profess and 
appear to lie regenerated and experimental Christians. 
//. Il 
Of liberty, such as it is in small democracies, of patriot- 
ism, such as it is in small independent communities of 
any kind, they had, and they could have, no experimental 
knowledge. tlacaulay. History. 
Experimental proposition, in Ionic, a proposition 
which is founded upon experience. Experimental phi- 
losophy, that philobophy which accepts nothing as abso- 
lutely certain, but holds that opinions will gradually ap- 
proximate to the truth in scientific researches into nature. 
The chief reason why I prefer the mechanical! and ex- 
perimentall pMoftftg before the Aristotelean is not so 
much because of its greater certainty, but localise it pute 
inquisitive men into a method to attain it, whereas the 
other serves only to olistruct their industry by amusing 
them with empty and insignificant notions. 
Bp. Parker, Platonick Philos., 2d ed. (1C67), p. 47. 
Experimental religion, religion that exists as an actual 
experience, as distinct from that which is held simply as 
an opinion or practised externally from some ulterior con- 
siderations : a state of religions feeling or principle which 
has sustained the test of trial, as opposed to a religious 
belief which i* held merely as a theory. 
experimentalise, r. i. See experimentalize. 
experimentalist (eks-per-i-men'tal-ist), n. [< 
* r/iii-iinnital + -i.v/.] One who makes experi- 
ments; one who practises experimentation. 
In respect of the medical profession, there is an obvious 
danger of a man's being regarded as a dangerous expert- 
'"li't v ho adopts any novelty. 
H'lnitety, Rhetoric, I. Iii. i 2. 
experimentalize (eks-per-i-men'tal-iz), r. i.; 
pret. and pp. experimentalized, ppr. experimen- 
