Sense

Pronunciation

• enPR: sÄ•ns, IPA: /sÉ›ns/
• Rhymes: -É›ns

Origin

From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san ("sense, reason, direction"); partly from Latin sensus ("sensation, feeling, meaning"), from sentiō ("feel, perceive"); partly of origin (whence also Occitan sen, Italian senno), from Old Frankish *sinn ("reason, judgement, mental faculty, way, direction"), from Proto-Germanic *sinnaz ("mind, meaning"). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- ("to feel"). Compare French assener ("to thrust out"), forcené ("maniac"). More at send.

Full definition of sense

Noun

1. (method to gather data) Any of the methods for a living being to gather data about the world; sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
• ShakespeareLet fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
• MiltonWhat surmounts the reach
  Of human sense I shall delineate.
2. (conscious awareness)Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.a sense of security
• Sir Philip Sidneythis Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover
• Miltonhigh disdain from sense of injured merit
3. (sound judgment)Sound practical or moral judgment.It's common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
• L'EstrangeSome are so hardened in wickedness as to have no sense of the most friendly offices.
4. (meaning or reason)The meaning, reason, or value of something.You don’t make any sense.the true sense of words or phrases
• Bible, Neh. viii. 8So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense.
• ShakespeareI think 'twas in another sense.
5. (natural ability)A natural appreciation or ability.A keen musical sense
6. (pragmatics term)(pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
7. (semantics term)(semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.
8. (math: direction of a vector)(mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
9. (math: direction of rotation)(mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• sense of smell (see olfaction)
• transferred sense

Related terms

• sensation
• sensible
• sensitive
• sensual
• sensuous
• sensor

Verb

1. To use biological senses: to either smell, watch, taste, hear or feel.
2. To instinctively be aware.She immediately sensed her disdain.
3. To comprehend.

Anagrams

• senes