sense
/sɛns/ noun, verb
Forms senses sensing sensed sence
- noun Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
- noun Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness. “a sense of security”
- noun Sound practical or moral judgment. “It’s common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.”
- noun The meaning, reason, or value of something. “You don’t make any sense.”
- noun A meaning of a term (word or expression), among its various meanings. “the various senses of the word “car” (e.g., motor car, elevator car, railcar)”
- noun (semantics, lexicography) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries or definitions for a word in a dictionary.
- noun A natural appreciation or ability. “A keen musical sense”
- noun (pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
- verb To use biological senses: to either see, hear, smell, taste, or feel.
- verb To instinctively be aware. “She immediately sensed her disdain.”
- verb To comprehend.
Synonyms
non-nonsense signified sensation sentience sentiency sensory faculty common sense good sense gumption horse sense mother wit feel smell smell out
Etymology
From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, perception, direction”); partly from Latin sēnsus (“sensation, feeling, meaning”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive”); partly of Germanic origin (whence also Occitan sen, Italian senno), from Vulgar Latin *sennus (“sense, reason, way”), from Frankish *sinn ("reason, judgement, mental faculty, way, direction"; whence also Dutch zin, German Sinn, Swedish sinne, Norwegian sinn). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A faculty, possessed by animals, of perceiving external objects by means of impressions made upon certain organs (sensory or sense organs) of the body, or of perceiving changes in the condition of the body; as, the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. See Muscular sense, under Muscular, and Temperature sense, under Temperature.
- noun Perception by the sensory organs of the body; sensation; sensibility; feeling.
- verb To perceive by the senses; to recognize. [Obs. or Colloq.]
Etymology [L. sensus, from sentire, sensum, to perceive, to feel, from the same root as E. send; cf. OHG. sin sense, mind, sinnan to go, to journey, G. sinnen to meditate, to think: cf. F. sens. For the change of meaning cf. See, v. t. See Send, and cf. Assent, Consent, Scent, v. t., Sentence, Sentient.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sense”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details