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Fine Dictionary

sense

sɛns
WordNet
The five senses are depicted in five medallions surrounded by tendrils and animals. Below the scene a verse in four columns. Numbered center right: No. 80.
The five senses are depicted in five medallions surrounded by tendrils and animals. Below the scene a verse in four columns. Numbered center right: No. 80.
  1. (v) sense
    comprehend "I sensed the real meaning of his letter"
  2. (v) sense
    become aware of not through the senses but instinctively "I sense his hostility","i smell trouble","smell out corruption"
  3. (v) sense
    perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles "He felt the wind","She felt an object brushing her arm","He felt his flesh crawl","She felt the heat when she got out of the car"
  4. (v) sense
    detect some circumstance or entity automatically "This robot can sense the presence of people in the room","particle detectors sense ionization"
  5. (n) sense
    sound practical judgment "Common sense is not so common","he hasn't got the sense God gave little green apples","fortunately she had the good sense to run away"
  6. (n) sense
    the faculty through which the external world is apprehended "in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing"
  7. (n) sense
    a general conscious awareness "a sense of security","a sense of happiness","a sense of danger","a sense of self"
  8. (n) sense
    a natural appreciation or ability "a keen musical sense","a good sense of timing"
  9. (n) sense
    the meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted "the dictionary gave several senses for the word","in the best sense charity is really a duty","the signifier is linked to the signified"
Illustrations
Seated nude woman as a personification of the sense Taste, she pokes a fork into a plate of food. Next to her is a monkey with a piece of fruit
Seated nude woman as a personification of the sense Taste, she pokes a fork into a plate of food. Next to her is a monkey with a piece of fruit
The personification of the sense of smell sits on the ground under a tree and arranges flowers in a vase. Two dogs are playing at her feet. In the background a city. The print has a Latin caption and is part of a five-part series on the senses.
The personification of the sense of smell sits on the ground under a tree and arranges flowers in a vase. Two dogs are playing at her feet. In the background a city. The print has a Latin caption and is part of a five-part series on the senses.
The sense organ Face. A man with glasses and a hat reads a letter. The print is part of a series with the five senses.
The sense organ Face. A man with glasses and a hat reads a letter. The print is part of a series with the five senses.
The sense organ Face. A man looks to the right with narrowed eyes and folded arms. He is wearing a hat.
The sense organ Face. A man looks to the right with narrowed eyes and folded arms. He is wearing a hat.
Seated naked woman as a personification of the sense of Taste (Gustus), she pricks a plate of food with a fork. Next to her is a monkey with a piece of fruit
Seated naked woman as a personification of the sense of Taste (Gustus), she pricks a plate of food with a fork. Next to her is a monkey with a piece of fruit
Seated nude woman as personification of the sense organ Hearing (Auditus) with musical instruments and a pig.
Seated nude woman as personification of the sense organ Hearing (Auditus) with musical instruments and a pig.
The sense organ Face. A smiling woman. The print is part of a series with the five senses.
The sense organ Face. A smiling woman. The print is part of a series with the five senses.
A doctor, Paulus Barbette, senses a young woman sitting on a chair in front of him by her wrist. There are various bottles and jars on the table. On the left a bed.
A doctor, Paulus Barbette, senses a young woman sitting on a chair in front of him by her wrist. There are various bottles and jars on the table. On the left a bed.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Interesting fact
Sharks can sense a drop of blood from a mile away
  1. Sense
    Meaning; import; signification; as, the true sense of words or phrases; the sense of a remark. "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense .", "I think 't was in another sense ."
  2. Sense
    Moral perception or appreciation. "Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no sense of the most friendly offices."
  3. Sense
    (Geom) One of two opposite directions in which a line, surface, or volume, may be supposed to be described by the motion of a point, line, or surface.
  4. Sense
    Perception by the sensory organs of the body; sensation; sensibility; feeling. "In a living creature, though never so great, the sense and the affects of any one part of the body instantly make a transcursion through the whole."
  5. Sense
    Perception through the intellect; apprehension; recognition; understanding; discernment; appreciation. "This Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover.", "High disdain from sense of injured merit."
  6. Sense
    That which is felt or is held as a sentiment, view, or opinion; judgment; notion; opinion. "I speak my private but impartial sense With freedom.", "The municipal council of the city had ceased to speak the sense of the citizens."
  7. Sense
    To perceive by the senses; to recognize. "Is he sure that objects are not otherwise sensed by others than they are by him?"
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Interesting fact
An ant's sense of smell is as good as a Dog's.
  1. (n) sense
    The capacity of being the subject of sensation and perception; the mode of consciousness by which an object is apprehended which acts upon the mind through the senses; the capacity of becoming conscious of objects as actually now and here; sense-perception; mental activity directly concerned in sensations.
  2. (n) sense
    A special faculty of sensation connected with a bodily organ; the mode of sensation awakened by the excitation of a peripheral nerve. In this signification, man is commonly said to have five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—a correct enumeration, perhaps, according to organs, but each of these organs has several different qualities of sensation. A sixth sense is often specified as the muscular sense (distinguished from touch); a seventh is sometimes spoken of, meaning the inner sense, the common sense of Aristotle, an unknown endowment, or a sexual feeling; and further subdivisions also are made. The seven senses are also often spoken of, meaning consciousness in its totality.
  3. (n) sense
    Feeling; immediate consciousness; sensation perceived as inward or subjective, or, at least, not decidedly as objective; also, vague consciousness or feeling.
  4. (n) sense
    A power of perceiving relations of a particular kind; a capacity of being affected by certain non-sensuous qualities of objects; a special kind of discernment; also, an exertion of such a power: as, the religious sense; the sense of duty; the sense of humor.
  5. (n) sense
    Mind generally; consciousness; especially, understanding; cognitive power.
  6. (n) sense
    Sound or clear mind. Ordinary, normal, or clear mental action: especially in the plural, with a collective force.
  7. (n) sense
    Good judgment approaching sagacity; sound practical intelligence.
  8. (n) sense
    Acuteness of perception or apprehension; discernment.
  9. (n) sense
    Discriminative perception; appreciation; a state of mind the result of a mental judgment or valuation.
  10. (n) sense
    Meaning; import; signification; the conception that a word or sign is intended to convey.
  11. (n) sense
    The intention, thought, feeling, or meaning of a body of persons, as an assembly; judgment, opinion, determination, or will in reference to a debated question.
  12. (n) sense
    That which is wise, judicious, sound, sensible, or intelligent, and accords with sound reason: as, to talk sense.
  13. sense
    [= Dan. sandse, perceive, = Sw. sansa (refi.), recover oneself; from the noun.]
  14. sense
    To perceive by the senses.
  15. sense
    To give the sense of; expound.
  16. sense
    To perceive; comprehend; understand; realize; take into the mind.
  17. sense
    Same as incense.
  18. (n) sense
    In geometry, one of two directly opposite ways in which a construct may be generated, described, or thought.
  19. (n) sense
    The simplest type of concrete affective experience; a complex of a sensation (or a well-defined group of sensations) and an affective process: such a feeling as hunger, or drowsiness: opposed to emotion and sentiment.
  20. (n) sense
    Specifically, the sense whose organ is the semicircular canals and vestibule of the internal ear, the portion of the internal ear supplied by the vestibular branch of the acoustic nerve. For the most part, this organ appears to function refiexly, that is, is not an organ of sense; but it undoubtedly gives us the sensation of dizziness or giddiness, and some authors refer this sensation to the ampullæ of the canals, and ascribe to the vestibule a second sensation, that of pressure.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Interesting fact
When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. First off would be your sight.
  1. (n) Sense
    sens a faculty by which objects are perceived: perception: discernment: understanding: power or soundness of judgment: reason: opinion: conviction: import: immediate consciousness
Quotations
The biggest shortage of all is the shortage of common sense.
Source Unknown
Common sense is seeing things as they are, and doing things as they should be done.
Source Unknown
Common sense is not so common.
Voltaire
Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.
Voltaire
The senses do not deceive us, but the judgment does.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Oscar Wilde
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
Oscar Wilde
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary L. sensus, from sentire, sensum, to perceive, to feel, from the same root as E. send,; cf. OHG. sin, sense, mind, sinnan, to go, to journey, G. sinnen, to meditate, to think: cf. F. sens,. For the change of meaning cf. See (v. t.) See Send, and cf. Assent Consent Scent (v. t.) Sentence Sentient

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary Fr.,—L. sensus—sentīre, to feel.

Usage in the news

How your brain makes sense of your senses. psychologytoday.com

I felt I owed it to all disabled people to try to make some anthropological sense of it all. nytimes.com

Hold on as we try to make sense of the unpleasantness at Cross Nats. bicycling.com

The Military's Laws on Adultery Make No Sense. tnr.com

Dollars & Sense columnist John Ewoldt searches the Twin Cities and beyond for bargains and strategies to spare you time, money and hassles. startribune.com

While the grades are subjective, I think in this case they provide a realistic sense of what's happened with the Bears. espn.go.com

Mike D'Antoni may need to take his guys out on the Hudson River so they can get a sense of where the ball should end up. espn.go.com

While the mayor and the ATA bicker over light rail plans, here's one that makes sense. pitch.com

On November 7, 1997, in Paris, a book was published that was substantial in every sense. ilsonquarterly.com

I suppose it makes sense for Peggy Noonan and Co. To keep giving Romney advice. hbl.com

I'm about to do something that goes completely against all common sense. cbsnews.com

"A relative asked why in the world I choose to live like this, and I replied that it just makes sense.". motherearthnews.com

ColoradoBiz writer Lisa Ryckman talks with Ralph Morgan, owner of the Evergreen Apothecary, about what kinds of regulations make sense for the business of medical marijuana. cobizmag.com

At first glance, it makes no sense. csbj.com

Not in the usual sense. chronicle.com

Usage in scientific papers

The following proposition states that being definable in the wide sense is almost equivalent to being definable in the strict sense.
On the consistency of the definable tree property on \aleph_1

If (T , <T ) is a κ−tree definable in the wide sense then there is a tree (κ, <T ′ ) isomorphic to (T , <T ) which is definable in the strict sense.
On the consistency of the definable tree property on \aleph_1

C-category S ets and is therefore a relation in S ets in our sense. A relation on A in the usual sense is a subset of A × A.
The categorical theory of relations and quantizations

Two relations on A, B ⊂ A × A and E ⊂ A × A, in the usual sense corresponds to relations r and s in our sense if we let r(x, x′ ) = (x, x′ ) and s(y , y ′) = (y , y ′ ) be the inclusion maps.
The categorical theory of relations and quantizations

If D is as in Definition 0.4 then K D in the sense of Definition 0.4 is identical with K D ||ΩD in the sense of Definition 0.5.
A simple proof of \Sigma^1_3 correctness of K

Usage in literature

Though half-Cheyenne and half-Assiniboin, he spoke English well, and manifested a marked sense of humor. "A Daughter of the Middle Border" by Hamlin Garland

Now in the sense in which there is such a thing as an epic, in that sense there is no such thing as a novel. "Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens" by G. K. Chesterton

It was not precisely a premonition that addressed itself to his senses; it was something he could not explain. "As It Was in the Beginning" by Philip Verrill Mighels

These suspicions, many of them at least, are new; in a sense they mark progress. "Natural Law in the Spiritual World" by Henry Drummond

It has only the sense that's put into it; and that's precious little sometimes. "Chance" by Joseph Conrad

The only thing I really admire is common sense. "Gossamer" by George A. Birmingham

A special mode of life had to precede initiation, tending to give the spirit the mastery over the senses. "Christianity As A Mystical Fact" by Rudolf Steiner

In this sense, and in this sense only, is chemical affinity converted into heat. "Fragments of science, V. 1-2" by John Tyndall

In one sense it was incomprehensible; in another sense it was the only explanation of the fact. "Expositions of Holy Scripture" by Alexander Maclaren

Nothing was tangible; the palate lost its sense of taste, the finger its sense of touch. "The Goose Man" by Jacob Wassermann

Usage in poetry
A stone's a stone
And a tree's a tree,
But what was the sense
Of aging me?
"Old Man Hoppergrass" by Stephen Vincent Benet Author object (629)
Now my sense is never so clear.
It cheats my heart,
Making me start
A thousand times, when she is not near.
"Footsteps in the Street" by Robert Fuller Murray
A joyful sense and purity
Is all I can remember;
The very night to me was bright,
'Twas summer in December.
"Innocence" by Thomas Traherne Author object (3683)
ESCARPIN.
Strange that I should feel as you,
That one thought should fire us two,
I too, sir, have lost my senses
Since I saw that lady.
"The Two Lovers Of Heaven: Chrysanthus And Daria - Act I" by Denis Florence MacCarthy
And, when their senses back return'd,
They gaz'd upon the steps of stone
On which the Dark Ladie had stood,
They gaz'd...but she was gone!...
"The Dark Ladie" by Anne Bannerman
That even in life's afternoon
A sense of youth comes back again,
As through this cool September rain
The still green woodlands dream of June.
"The Reunion" by John Greenleaf Whittier Author object (377)