"experiential" query

[Michael Quinion]

Gerald Cohen wrote:

> Today a senior colleague pointed to a sign on a campus van which said:
> "Student Design & Experiential Learning Center" and asked if I ever
> heard "experiential" before.  I hadn't, and neither had he.  The word
> is based on "experience" and refers to learning by doing.

"Experiential" is very familiar to me, though I've no connection with the
academic or educational fields. I'd consider it a semi-technical term in
psychology. The OED's entry for it has examples in the obvious sense of
"pertaining to experience or observation" from 1816 and an example of
"experientially" from 1646.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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