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sense
[ sens ]
noun
- any of the faculties, such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body:
Helen Keller once wrote that hearing was the sense she most wished she could have had.
- Usually sen·ses. the faculties by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body collectively:
His senses were screaming that danger was nearby.
- the operation or function of the organs of touch, taste, etc.; sensation:
The bloodhound’s sense of smell is greatly enhanced by its long, droopy ears, which scoop up the scents from the ground.
- a feeling or perception produced through the organs of touch, taste, etc., or resulting from a particular condition of some part of the body:
She had an uncomfortable sense of cold on the back of her neck.
- a faculty or function of the mind analogous to sensation:
His moral sense rebelled against such an unethical scheme.
Synonyms: apprehension, awareness
- any special capacity for perception, estimation, appreciation, etc.:
In this job you've got to have a sense of humor.
- Usually sen·ses. clear and sound mental faculties; sanity:
Have you taken leave of your senses?
Synonyms: rationality
- a more or less vague perception or impression:
Sitting with his back to the wall gave him a sense of security.
- a mental discernment, realization, or recognition:
All workers should have a sense of the worth of their labor.
Synonyms: estimation
- the recognition of something as incumbent or fitting:
My sense of duty compels me to accept this mission.
- 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.
Synonyms: interpretation, denotation, import, signification, connotation
- 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:
The word "dog" has a literal sense, but it can also be metaphorical.
- an opinion or judgment formed or held, especially by an assemblage or body of persons:
We didn't bother with formal minutes, but we did take notes on the general sense of the meeting.
- Genetics. a DNA sequence that is capable of coding for an amino acid ( nonsense ).
- Mathematics. one of two opposite directions in which a vector may point.
verb (used with object)
- to perceive (something) by the senses; become aware of:
I sense there's a storm on the way.
Synonyms: recognize, appreciate, discern
- 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 receive or capture (encoded data) electrically, photoelectrically, etc., through an input device: Compare read 1( def 16 ).
When you scan the bar code, an optical mark reader senses the data encoded in the position of the bars.
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 senses
a sense of warmth
- a mental perception or awareness
a sense of happiness
- moral discernment; understanding
a sense of right and wrong
- sometimes plural sound practical judgment or intelligence
he is a man without any sense
- reason or purpose
what is the sense of going out in the rain?
- substance or gist; meaning
what is the sense of this proverb?
- specific meaning; definition
in 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 sensemake sense to be reasonable or understandable
- See leavetake leave of one's sensestake leave of one's senses See leave 2
verb
- 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)
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Other Words From
- half-sensed adjective
- un·sensed adjective
- un·sens·ing adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of sense1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of sense1
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Idioms and Phrases
- 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.
More idioms and phrases containing 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 .Discover More
Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
In the absence of any competitions on the horizon, I just didn’t see how it made any sense to practice.
While I call these outlooks “depressed,” I mean it only in an economic sense.
Mixing flashy sexual parts and super-simple other parts makes sense for the plant kingdom’s extreme parasites.
This makes sense — our previous research shows that playoff experience matters a lot in the NBA.
In the future, Microsoft reckons it could make sense to co-locate such underwater data centers with offshore wind farms.
But give the Kingdom credit for its sense of mercy: The lashes will be administered only 50 at a time.
It may be fun and it may get them paid, until oversaturation ruins our sense for irony and destroys the market for it.
Other major news outlets made the same decision, hiding behind a misplaced sense of multicultural sensitivity.
And extortion makes a lot more sense before a story hits the news wire, not after.
Because they stopped and I thought, “OK, that makes sense,” and then all of a sudden I saw another issue!
A constant sense of easy balance should be developed through poising exercises.
There is, perhaps, in this childish suffering often something more than the sense of being homeless and outcast.
In one sense, then, the new issue has adequate expansibility for ordinary needs.
That is the only point in which one sees Liszt's sense of his own greatness; otherwise his manner is remarkably unassuming.
In the close relation and affection of these last days, the sense of alienation and antagonism faded from both their hearts.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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