experience[noun]Synonyms:- knowledge, contact, exposure, familiarity, involvement, participation, practice, training
- event, adventure, affair, encounter, episode, happening, incident, occurrence
[verb]Synonyms:- undergo, encounter, endure, face, feel, go through, live through, sample, taste
Antonyms: inexperience
Related Words: background,
observation,
know-how,
practice,
skill,
savoir faire,
sophistication,
wisdom,
encounter,
meet,
accept,
receive,
behold,
see,
survey,
view [TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲
I. ex‧pe‧ri‧ence1 S1 W1 /ɪkˈspɪəriəns $ -ˈspɪr-/
noun [
Word Family: verb:
experience;
noun:
experience ≠
inexperience;
adjective:
experienced ≠
inexperienced]
[
Date: 1300-1400;
Language: French;
Origin: Latin experientia 'act of trying', from experiri 'to try out']
1. KNOWLEDGE/SKILL [uncountable] knowledge or skill that you gain from doing a job or activity, or the process of doing this
experience of/in/with
You’ve got a lot of experience of lecturing. my experience in many areas of the music business He had no previous experience of managing a farm. The advice in the booklet reflects the practical experience we have gained (=experience gained by actually doing something, rather than knowledge from books etc). I had some experience in fashion design. She was turned down on the grounds of lack of experience. I have first-hand experience (=experience gained by doing something myself) of running a school.gain/get experience The programme enables pupils to gain some experience of the world of work.2. KNOWLEDGE OF LIFE [uncountable] knowledge that you gain about life and the world by being in different situations and meeting different people, or the process of gaining this
in sb’s experience In his experience, women did not like getting their feet wet and muddy.know/learn/speak from experience Being a parent isn’t easy, as I know from experience. All animals appear to have some capacity to learn from experience. I speak from bitter experience (=having learnt something because something unpleasant happened).personal/previous/past experience From personal experience, she knew and understood the problems of alcohol addiction.experience shows/suggests that Beth’s experience suggests that people don’t really change deep down.3. SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS [countable] something that happens to you or something you do, especially when this has an effect on what you feel or think:
childhood experiencesexperience of/with This was my first experience of living with other people.experience for Failing an exam was a new experience for me. I had a similar experience last year. The two children in this story have been through a lot of bad experiences. Parachuting is quite an experience.memorable/unforgettable experience This romantic evening cruise is a memorable experience.religious experience (=a situation in which you feel, hear, or see something that affects you strongly and makes you believe in God) This kind of religious experience was a sign of God’s special favour.4. the black/female/Russian etc experience events or knowledge shared by the members of a particular society or group of people:
No writer expresses the black experience with such passion as Toni Morisson.5. work experience British English a system in which a student can work for a company in order to learn about a job, or the period during which a student does this:
Ella is about to do work experience with a clothing manufacturer.on work experience students on work experience [TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲
experiencenoun1. 
BAD: I made my first teaching experience in Scotland.
GOOD: I had my first teaching experience in Scotland.
BAD: While I was going home, I made a bad experience.
GOOD: While I was going home, I had a bad experience.
Usage Note:have an experience (NOT
make ): 'The streets were full of beggars and we had one or two very unpleasant experiences.'
DO · HAVE · MAKE · TAKE Many phrases begin with a very common very such as
do, make, have, or
take : ‘I felt very nervous about
taking the
test but, after
having a long
talk with Mrs Fisher, I decided I would just
do my best and try not to
make too many silly
mistakes .’ These verbs can be combined with some nouns but not with others and since they do not have a clear meaning of their own, choosing the right combination can be a problem. Phrases which tend to cause difficulty are shown below.
HAVE have a bath (or esp. AmE
take )
‘She’s probably upstairs having a bath.’ Have (your) breakfast ‘We usually have breakfast in the kitchen.’ Have (your) dinner ‘We had dinner and then went for a walk.’ Have a drink ‘I’ll collapse if I don’t have a drink soon.’ Have (an) experience ‘He has no experience of running a large company.’ Have fun ‘You can’t stop people from having fun.’ Have a holiday ‘It’s almost a year since we had a real holiday.’ Have an interview ‘I’ve had six interviews but no one has offered me a job.’ Have a lesson ‘Every morning we have three fifty-minute lessons.’ Have (your) lunch ‘Isn’t it about time we had lunch?’ Have an operation ‘Before I had the operation I could hardly walk.’ Have a party ‘On Saturday we’re having a party.’ Have a picnic ‘If it’s sunny we could have a picnic.’ Have a shower (or esp. AmE take) ‘It only takes me a minute to have a shower.’ TAKE Take/do an examination ‘Why do we have to take so many tests?’ Take (your) medicine ‘Don’t forget to take your medicine.’ Take a pill ‘He refuses to take sleeping pills.’ Take/do a test ‘The last test I took was a disaster.’ MAKE Make an effort ‘I had to make a big effort not to laugh.’ Make a journey ‘It was the first journey he’d made all on his own.’ Make a mistake ‘He has made a serious mistake.’ Make a noise ‘How can one small child make so much noise?’ Make progress ‘I made very little progress at the start of the course.’ DO Do your best ‘Don’t worry, Tim. Just do your best.’ Do (or cause) damage ‘The storm did a lot of damage to the crops.’ Do an exercise ‘Have you done your exercises today?’ Do an experiment ‘To do this experiment, you’ll need two eggs.’ Do (sb) good ‘The holiday has done him a lot of good.’ Do harm ‘A scandal would do his reputation a lot of harm.’ Do your homework ‘Have you done your homework yet?’ Do a job ‘I’ve got one or two jobs to do this evening.’ Do the/some shopping ‘Jake has gone into town to do some shopping.’ Do research ‘We need to do a lot more research.’ Do things ‘We’ve done lots of different things today.’ Do your training ‘Where did you do your training?’ Note also:
do something/anything etc: ‘I can’t come now – I’m doing something.’ ‘He hasn’t done anything wrong.'
2. BAD: If I go to England, I'll have a lot of experiences.
GOOD: If I go to England, I'll have a lot of new experiences.
Usage Note:When
experience means 'something that happens to you', it is usually modified: 'The book is based on her experiences as a reporter in El Salvador.' 'Don't give up just because of one bad experience.' 'The trip to Niagara Falls was an unforgettable experience.'
3. BAD: I hadn't made any experience of changing a car wheel.
GOOD: I hadn't had any experience of changing a car wheel.
Usage Note:have no/little/some/considerable etc
experience (NOT
make ): 'Most of the school inspectors had at least ten years' teaching experience.'
See language note above
4. BAD: I knew that he had no experience driving in the dark.
GOOD: I knew that he had no experience of driving in the dark.
BAD: Older people have had more experience in life.
GOOD: Older people have had more experience of life.
Usage Note:have no/little/some/considerable etc
experience of (doing) sth
'Do you have any previous experience of looking after children?'
5. BAD: Many of us have had experiences of living overseas.
GOOD: Many of us have had experience of living overseas.
Usage Note:When you are talking about someone's life as a whole,
experience is uncountable: 'Salary will depend upon qualifications and experience.'
[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲