sense
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: sĕns
ipa: /sɛns/
ipa: /sɛnts/
ipa: /sɪns/
ipa: /sɪnts/
rhymes: -ɛns
homophone: cents
homophone: scents
homophone: since (pin–pen merger)
Forms: form: senses
form: sence
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”).
Senses: examples: text: Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
ref: 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]:
text: What surmounts the reach / Of human sense I shall delineate.
ref: 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:
glosses: Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
examples: text: a sense of security
text: this Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover
ref: 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:
english: The New Arcadia
translation: The New Arcadia
text: high disdain from sense of injured merit
ref: 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:
text: 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; […]
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 66:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
examples: text: It’s common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
text: some People so Harden'd in Wickedness, as to have No Sense at all of the most Friendly Offices, or the Highest Benefits.
ref: 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:
glosses: Sound practical or moral judgment.
examples: text: You don’t make any sense.
text: I think ’twas in another sense.
ref: 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]:
glosses: The meaning, reason, or value of something.
examples: text: the various senses of the word “car” (e.g., motor car, elevator car, railcar)
glosses: The meaning, reason, or value of something.
A meaning of a term (word or expression), among its various meanings.
topics: human-sciences
lexicography
linguistics
sciences
semantics
glosses: The meaning, reason, or value of something.
A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries or definitions for a word in a dictionary.
examples: text: A keen musical sense
glosses: A natural appreciation or ability.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
pragmatics
sciences
glosses: The way that a referent is presented.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
topics: biochemistry
biology
chemistry
microbiology
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.
Synonyms: word: non-nonsense
word: sense
Hyponyms: word: business sense
word: common sense
word: fashion sense
word: sense of humor
word: sense of humour
word: sixth sense
word: time sense
word: transferred sense
word: audition
word: equilibrioception
word: gustation
word: kinesthetic sense
word: nociception
word: olfaction
word: proprioception
word: tactition
word: thermoception
word: vestibular sense
word: vision
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
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: word: extrasensory
word: sensation
word: sensible
word: sensical
word: sensitive
word: sensor
word: sensorium
word: sensual
word: sensuous
word: audition
word: equilibrioception
word: gustation
word: hearing
word: nociception
word: olfaction
word: proprioception
word: sight
word: smell
word: tactition
word: taste
word: thermoception
word: touch
word: vision
word: perception
word: cognition
word: nervous system
word: neuroscience
word: perceptibility
word: perceptible
word: sensory
word: perceive
word: produce sensation
word: perceptibly