perception Copy link Outline I. The act of perceivingII. Intellectual discernment; esp. of the proprieties of things; perh. sensus (communis) • perception: I. The act of perceiving: expr. by percipio, etc.: to discuss the mode of p., *quemadmodum sensibus res percipiantur quaerere: the Epicurean theory of p., *Epicuri de rebus sensu percipiendis doctrina: v. to perceive. II. Intellectual discernment; esp. of the proprieties of things; perh. sensus (communis): cf. Hor. S. 1, 3, 66 (communi sensu plane caret).