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sense
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Alternative forms
- sence (archaic)
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
- enPR: sĕns, IPA(key): /sɛns/, /sɛnts/
Audio (General American): (file) Audio (UK): (file) - (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /sɪns/, /sɪnts/
- Rhymes: -ɛns
- Homophones: cents, scents; since (pin–pen merger)
Noun
sense (countable and uncountable, plural senses)
- Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
- c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
- Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, 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:
- What surmounts the reach / Of human sense I shall delineate.
- 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.
- Sound practical or moral judgment.
- It’s common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
- 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
- some People so Harden'd in Wickedness, as to have No Sense at all of the most Friendly Offices, or the Highest Benefits.
- The meaning, reason, or value of something.
- You don’t make any sense.
- c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- I think ’twas in another sense.
- 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)
- (semantics, lexicography) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries or definitions for a word in a dictionary.
- A natural appreciation or ability.
- A keen musical sense
- (pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
- (mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
- (mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
- (biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
- See also Thesaurus:sense
Derived terms
- abound in one's own sense
- aftersense
- air sense
- come to one's senses
- common sense
- court sense
- dress sense
- enough sense to pound sand into a rathole
- game sense
- good sense
- horse sense
- in a sense
- in every sense of the word
- in the Biblical sense
- in the biblical sense
- knock some sense into
- know someone in the Biblical sense
- know someone in the biblical sense
- make it make sense
- make sense
- moral sense
- more dollars than sense
- more money than sense
- my spider sense is tingling
- negative sense
- nonsense
- non-sense
- no sense no feeling
- positive sense
- present sense impression
- see sense
- sense amplifier
- sense body
- sense capsule
- sense datum
- sense of craft
- sense of direction
- sense of place
- sense of time
- sense organ
- sense strand
- snail-sense feminism
- Spider sense
- spider-sense
- Spider-sense
- spider sense
- Spidey sense
- Spidey-sense
- spidey-sense
- spidey sense
- strict-sense stationary
- subsense
- talk sense
- where there's no sense there's no feeling
- word sense
Related terms
Descendants
- → Afrikaans: sense
Translations
manner by which living beings perceive the physical world
|
conscious awareness
|
sound judgement
|
meaning or reason
|
natural ability
|
semantics term
|
math: direction of a vector
math: direction of rotation
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
Verb
sense (third-person singular simple present senses, present participle sensing, simple past and past participle sensed)
- To use biological senses: to either see, hear, smell, taste, or feel.
- To instinctively be aware.
- She immediately sensed her disdain.
- To comprehend.
Translations
use biological senses
|
to instinctively be aware
|
to comprehend
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
- “sense”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
sense (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
sense on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
word sense on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
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Afrikaans
Etymology 1
Noun
sense (uncountable)
Etymology 2
Noun
sense
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
Derived terms
Further reading
- “sense”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “sense”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
- “sense” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “sense” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Chuukese
Etymology
Noun
sense
Dutch
Noun
sense
- only used in sense maken
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈsẽː.sɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈsɛn.se]
Participle
sēnse
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French sens, from Latin sensus.
Pronunciation
Noun
sense (plural senses)
Descendants
References
- “sens(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Occitan
Alternative forms
Etymology
From a variant of Latin sine (“without”), influenced by absēns (“absent, remote”).
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Preposition
sense
References
- Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 556.
Spanish
Verb
sense
- inflection of sensar:
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