sense

English

Alternative forms

• sence (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, reason, 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): /sɛn(t)s/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /sɪn(t)s/
• Rhymes: -ɛns
• Homophones: cents, scents, since (pin-pen merger)

Noun

sense (countable and uncountable, plural senses)

English Wikipedia has articles on:

sense and sense (disambiguation)

Wikipedia Wikipedia

English Wikipedia has articles on:

word sense and word-sense disambiguation

Wikipedia Wikipedia

2. 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     What surmounts the reach / Of human sense I shall delineate.

4. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.

   a sense of security

   • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC:

     this Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →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], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XLIII, 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; […]

6. 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 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.

8. The meaning, reason, or value of something.

   You don’t make any sense.

   2. Any particular meaning of a word, among its various meanings.

      word sense disambiguation

      the various senses of the word “car” (e.g., motor car, elevator car, railcar)

      • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Nehemiah 8:8:

        So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

        I think ’twas in another sense.

10. A natural appreciation or ability.

    A keen musical sense

12. (pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
14. (semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.

    The word “set” has various senses.

16. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
18. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
20. (biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

Synonyms

• non-nonsense

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:sense

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: sense

Translations

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

Anagrams

• Essen, NESes, SE SNe, enses, esnes, seens, senes, snees

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

• sens

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

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

sense

1. without

   Antonym: amb

Derived terms

• sensefeina
• sensesostre

Further reading

• “sense” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “sense”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “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

Borrowed from Japanese 先生 (sensei).

Noun

sense

1. teacher

Dutch

Noun

sense

1. Only used in sense maken

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsen.se/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsen.se/,

Participle

sēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of sēnsus

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sens, sence

Etymology

From Old French sens, from Latin sensus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛns/

Noun

sense (plural senses)

1. meaning, signification; interpretation

Descendants

• English: sense
• Yola: zense

References

• “sens(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Occitan

Alternative forms

• sens
• shens (Gascony)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

sense

1. without

References

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 556.

Spanish

Verb

sense

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