1. Conscious perception with full awareness.
2. The process of understanding by which newly observed qualities of an object are related to past experience.

[New Latin apperceptiō, apperceptiōn- : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin perceptiō, perception; see perception.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.