See also: Sense and sensé

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

Noun edit

sense (countable and uncountable, plural senses)

  1. Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
  2. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
    a sense of security
  3. Sound practical or moral judgment.
    It’s common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
  4. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
    You don’t make any sense.
    1. 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)
  5. A natural appreciation or ability.
    A keen musical sense
  6. (pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
  7. (semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.
    The word “set” has various senses.
  8. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
  9. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
  10. (biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

Synonyms edit

Hyponyms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

  • Afrikaans: sense

Translations edit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also edit

Verb edit

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 edit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Anagrams edit

Afrikaans edit

Etymology 1 edit

Borrowed from English sense.

Noun edit

sense (uncountable)

  1. sense, good sense

Etymology 2 edit

Noun edit

sense

  1. plural of sens

Catalan edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

Preposition edit

sense

  1. without
    Antonym: amb

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit

Chuukese edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Japanese 先生 (sensei).

Noun edit

sense

  1. teacher

Dutch edit

Noun edit

sense

  1. Only used in sense maken

Latin edit

Pronunciation edit

Participle edit

sēnse

  1. vocative masculine singular of sēnsus

Middle English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old French sens, from Latin sensus.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

sense (plural senses)

  1. meaning, signification; interpretation

Descendants edit

References edit

Occitan edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Preposition edit

sense

  1. without

References edit

Spanish edit

Verb edit

sense

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