B1 [ U ]
(the process of getting) knowledge or skill from doing, seeing , or feeling things:
Do you have any experience of working with kids ? (= Have you ever worked with them?)
The best way to learn is by experience (= by doing things) .
I know from experience that Tony never keeps his promises .
I don't think she has the experience for the job (= enough knowledge and skill for it) .
In my experience, people generally smile back if you smile at them.
The experience of pain (= what pain feels like) varies from one person to another.
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(Definition of experience from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
(Definition of experience from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of experience

experience A key issue in the book is an analysis of the experience with the application of economic instruments, such as charges and tradable discharge permits. From the Cambridge English Corpus Conventional earthwork plans are theory-laden and the result of the application of particular archaeological skills, knowledge and experience . From the Cambridge English Corpus It is based on a one-year qualitative research project, which seeks to explore the experiences of social dance for older dancers. From the Cambridge English Corpus Finally, our critique, though largely a demonstration of the inadequacy of their model, fundamentally rests on the undeniable existence, indeed primacy, of qualitative experience . From the Cambridge English Corpus It was this early experience as a rice breeder which also led to an interest in seed dormancy. From the Cambridge English Corpus My judgement is that such experiences are no less vivid than ordinary experience , although of course greatly reduced in informational content. From the Cambridge English Corpus More surprisingly, he had little time for the actual experiences of the millions of ordinary people who in our time have been at war. From the Cambridge English Corpus Thus, individuals experiencing low strain are hypothesized to have a lower than average risk of illness and psychological disturbance. From the Cambridge English Corpus Approximately one-quarter experienced a hearing limitation or a learning, developmental or psychological disability. From the Cambridge English Corpus We will now summarise some of these psychological processes involved within the dementia sufferer's response to the experience of neurological deterioration. From the Cambridge English Corpus In the school situation, pupils were interested in the learning experiences of other groups and wanted to do the same musical activities. From the Cambridge English Corpus In studying the psychological effects of bilingualism, the time and circumstances of individuals' experiences with different languages and sociocultural settings should be carefully examined. From the Cambridge English Corpus

These are words often used in combination with experience .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

accumulated experience
The absence of accumulated experience in decerebrated animals overcame the problems of memory, time, and context.
acting experience
These agreements permit a certain number of newcomers to gain professional experience, but their main purpose is to ensure that the greater proportion of repertory casts already have acting experience.
From the
Hansard archive
actual experience
Obviously the person is not dreaming of his or her actual experience.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.