r _learning_ or _erudition_. We speak of
_perception_ of external objects, _apprehension_ of intellectual truth.
Simple _perception_ gives a limited _knowledge_ of external objects,
merely as such; the _cognition_ of the same objects is a _knowledge_ of
them in some relation; _cognizance_ is the formal or official
_recognition_ of something as an object of _knowledge_; we take
_cognizance_ of it. _Intuition_ is primary _knowledge_ antecedent to all
teaching or reasoning, _experience_ is _knowledge_ that has entered
directly into one's own life; as, a child's _experience_ that fire will
burn. _Learning_ is much higher than _information_, being preeminently
wide and systematic _knowledge_, the result of long, assiduous study;
_erudition_ is recondite _learning_ secured only by extraordinary
industry, opportunity, and ability. Compare ACQUAINTANCE; EDUCATION;
SCIENCE; WISDOM.

Antonyms:

ignorance, inexperience, misconception, rudeness,
illiteracy, misapprehension, misunderstanding, unfamiliarity.

* * * * *

LANGUAGE.

Synonyms:

barbarism, expression, patois, vernacular,
dialect, idiom, speech, vocabulary.
diction, mother tongue, tongue,

_Language_ (F. _langage_ < L. _lingua_, the tongue) signified originally
_expression_ of thought by spoken words, but now in its widest sense it
signifies _expression_ of thought by any means; as, the _language_ of
the eyes, the _language_ of flowers. As regards the use of words,
_language_ in its broadest sense denotes all the uttered sounds and
their combinations into words and sentences that human beings employ for
the communication of thought, and, in a more limited sense, the words or
combinations forming a means of communication among the members of a
single nation, people, or race. _Speech_ involves always the power of
articulate utterance; we can speak of the _language_ of animals, but not
of their _speech_. A _tongue_ is the _speech_ or _language_ of some one
people, country, or race. A _dialect_ is a special mode of speaking a
_language_ peculiar to some locality or class, not recognized as in
accordance with the best usage; a _barbarism_ is a perversion of a
_language_ by ignorant foreigners, or some usage akin to that. _Idiom_
refers to the construction of phrases and sentences, and the way of
forming or using words; it is the peculiar mold in which each _language_
casts its thought. The gr