sense

[ sens ]

/ sɛns /

|||

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sense ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

any of the faculties, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body: My sense of smell tells me that dinner is ready.

these faculties collectively.

their operation or function; sensation.

a feeling or perception produced through the organs of touch, taste, etc., or resulting from a particular condition of some part of the body: to have a sense of cold.

a faculty or function of the mind analogous to sensation: the moral sense.

any special capacity for perception, estimation, appreciation, etc.: a sense of humor.

Usually senses. clear and sound mental faculties; sanity: Have you taken leave of your senses?

a more or less vague perception or impression: a sense of security.

a mental discernment, realization, or recognition; acuteness: a just sense of the worth of a thing.

the recognition of something as incumbent or fitting: a sense of duty.

sound practical intelligence: He has no sense.

something that is sensible or reasonable: Try to talk sense instead of shouting.

the meaning or gist of something: You missed the sense of his statement.

the value or worth of something; merit: There's no sense in worrying about the past.

the meaning of a word or phrase in a specific context, especially as isolated in a dictionary or glossary; the semantic element in a word or group of words.

an opinion or judgment formed or held, especially by an assemblage or body of persons: the sense of a meeting.

Genetics. a DNA sequence that is capable of coding for an amino acid (distinguished from nonsense).

Mathematics. one of two opposite directions in which a vector may point.

verb (used with object), sensed, sens·ing.

to perceive (something) by the senses; become aware of.

to grasp the meaning of; understand.

(of certain mechanical devices) to detect physical phenomena, as light, temperature, radioactivity, etc., mechanically, electrically, or photoelectrically.

Computers. to read (punched holes, tape, data, etc.) mechanically, electrically, or photoelectrically.

Nearby words

sensation, sensational, sensationalism, sensationalize, sensationism, sense, sense and sensibility, sense datum, sense of equilibrium, sense organ, sense perception

Idioms

come to one's senses, to regain one's good judgment or realistic point of view; become reasonable.

in a sense, according to one explanation or view; to a certain extent: In a sense it may have been the only possible solution.

make sense, to be reasonable or comprehensible: His attitude doesn't make sense.

Origin of sense

1350–1400; (noun) Middle English < Latin sēnsus sensation, feeling, understanding, equivalent to sent(īre) to feel + -tus suffix of v. action, with tt > s; (v.) derivative of the noun

SYNONYMS FOR sense

4 Sense, sensation refer to consciousness of stimulus or of a perception as pleasant or unpleasant. A sense is an awareness or recognition of something; the stimulus may be subjective and the entire process may be mental or intellectual: a sense of failure. A sensation is an impression derived from an objective (external) stimulus through any of the sense organs: a sensation of heat. It is also a general, indefinite physical or emotional feeling: a sensation of weariness.

5 awareness, apprehension.

7 rationality.

9 estimation, appreciation.

13 signification, import, denotation, connotation, interpretation. See meaning.

16 feeling, sentiment.

19 discern, appreciate, recognize.

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Related forms

half-sensed, adjectiveun·sensed, adjectiveun·sens·ing, adjective

Can be confused

cents scents sense

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sense

But give the Kingdom credit for its sense of mercy: The lashes will be administered only 50 at a time.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It may be fun and it may get them paid, until oversaturation ruins our sense for irony and destroys the market for it.
Trolls and Martyrdom: Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie|Arthur Chu|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
So in that sense we have gotten close to the families that have lost loved ones, be it from one side or the other.
Mexico’s Priests Are Marked for Murder|Jason McGahan|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
This is acting in every sense of the word—bringing an unevolved animal to life and making it utterly believable.
Oscars 2015: The Daily Beast’s Picks, From Scarlett Johansson to ‘Boyhood’|Marlow Stern|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST

“I sense that mobile games are starting to shed their skin, getting rid of all the dead things they carry around,” he says.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
For he was in no sense as nobly human of stature, as deeply aware of the life about him, as Moussorgsky.
Musical Portraits|Paul Rosenfeld
When he tired of the tumult of the bar-room and a sense of his better self came over him, some one said: "Give us another, Tom."
Wit, Humor, Reason, Rhetoric, Prose, Poetry and Story Woven into Eight Popular Lectures|George W. Bain
This conception is akin to that of potential, except that it is given to us directly by our sense of heat.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3|Various
New value will be given to craftsmanship and a sense of dedication—now almost unknown—to those who direct it.
The Life of the Spirit and the Life of To-day|Evelyn Underhill
I think this must have been after that act of His which gave us a sense of surpassing swiftness.
My Little Sister|Elizabeth Robins

British Dictionary definitions for sense

sense

/ (sɛns) /

noun

any of the faculties by which the mind receives information about the external world or about the state of the body. In addition to the five traditional faculties of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, the term includes the means by which bodily position, temperature, pain, balance, etc, are perceived

such faculties collectively; the ability to perceive

a feeling perceived through one of the sensesa sense of warmth

a mental perception or awarenessa sense of happiness

moral discernment; understandinga sense of right and wrong

(sometimes plural) sound practical judgment or intelligencehe is a man without any sense

reason or purposewhat is the sense of going out in the rain?

substance or gist; meaningwhat is the sense of this proverb?

specific meaning; definitionin what sense are you using the word?

an opinion or consensus

maths one of two opposite directions measured on a directed line; the sign as contrasted with the magnitude of a vector

logic linguistics

the import of an expression as contrasted with its referent. Thus the morning star and the evening star have the same reference, Venus, but different senses
the property of an expression by virtue of which its referent is determined
that which one grasps in understanding an expression

make sense to be reasonable or understandable

take leave of one's senses See leave 2 (def. 8)

verb (tr)

to perceive through one or more of the senses

to apprehend or detect without or in advance of the evidence of the senses

to understand

computing

to test or locate the position of (a part of computer hardware)
to read (data)

Word Origin for sense

C14: from Latin sēnsus, from sentīre to feel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for sense

sense

[ sĕns ]

n.

Any of the faculties by which stimuli from outside or inside the body are received and felt, as the faculties of hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste, and equilibrium.

A perception or feeling that is produced by a stimulus; sensation, as of hunger.

v.

To become aware of; perceive.

Idioms and Phrases with sense

sense

see come to one's senses; horse sense; in a sense; lull into (a false sense of security); make sense; sixth sense; take leave of (one's senses); talk sense.