sense

See also: Sense and sensé

English

Alternative forms

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”).

Pronunciation

Noun

sense (countable and uncountable, plural senses)

  2. Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
  4. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
    a sense of security
    • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
      this Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      high disdain from sense of injured merit
    • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 66:
      The days have vanish’d, tone and tint,
      ⁠And yet perhaps the hoarding sense
      ⁠Gives out at times (he knows not whence)
      A little flash, a mystic hint; […]
    • 1990 December 16, Laura Briggs, quoting Robert Weinerman, “Gay Students Fight 'Little War' At Mass. School”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 22, page 15:
      Where a college administration does not come forward and say that gay people have a right to be here, there is a sense among students that it is acceptable to harass and intimidate lesbian and gay members of that community.
  6. Sound practical or moral judgment.
    It’s common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
  8. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
    You don’t make any sense.
    2. A meaning of a term (word or expression), among its various meanings.
      Hyponyms: subsense, subsubsense
      the various senses of the word “car” (e.g., motor car, elevator car, railcar)
    4. (semantics, lexicography) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries or definitions for a word in a dictionary.
  10. A natural appreciation or ability.
    A keen musical sense
  12. (pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
  14. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
  16. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
  18. (biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Afrikaans: sense

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

Verb

sense (third-person singular simple present senses, present participle sensing, simple past and past participle sensed)

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

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English sense.

Noun

sense (uncountable)

  1. sense, good sense

Etymology 2

Noun

sense

  1. plural of sens

Catalan

Alternative forms

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin sine, possibly conflated with absentia, or more likely from sens, itself from Old Catalan sen (with an adverbial -s-), from Latin sine. Compare French sans, Occitan sens, Italian senza.

Pronunciation

Preposition

sense

  1. without
    Antonym: amb

Derived terms

Further reading

Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 先生 (sensei).

Noun

sense

  1. teacher

Dutch

Noun

sense

  1. only used in sense maken

Latin

Pronunciation

Participle

sēnse

  1. vocative masculine singular of sēnsus

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French sens, from Latin sensus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sɛns/

Noun

sense (plural senses)

  1. meaning, signification; interpretation

Descendants

References

Occitan

Alternative forms

Etymology

From a variant of Latin sine (“without”), influenced by absēns (“absent, remote”).

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Preposition

sense

  1. without

References

Spanish

Verb

sense

  1. inflection of sensar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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