See Also: sense(2)(dictionary)
Sense(medicine)
sense(1)(dictionary)
sense(encyclopedia)
common sense(dictionary)
Balance, sense of(health)
GROUP SENSE(finance)
Makes Sense(money)
Common Sense(money)
weight sense(medicine)

sense(1) (iou)



sense noun. LME.
[Latin sensus faculty or mode of feeling, thought, meaning, from sens- pa. ppl stem of sentire feel, perceive by the senses. Cf. Old & mod. French sens.]
I. Meaning, signification.
The meaning of a word or phrase; any of the various meanings of a word etc., the way a word etc. is to be understood within a particular context; spec. (chiefly Hist.) any of the various meanings or interpretations able to be derived through exegesis from a biblical word or passage. LME.
H. Carpenter Those I believe to be the most intriguing (in both senses of the word). Guardian An annual competition..designed to promote environmental awareness in the widest sense.
b. Such a meaning recorded in a dictionary etc. M18.
W. W. Skeat See the fifth sense of the verb bield in Murray's New English Dictionary.
The intended meaning of a speaker or writer. LME-M18.
The meaning of words in connected or continuous speech; the substance, import, or gist of a passage, text, etc. L15.
E. R. Tufte Data graphics should draw the viewer's attention to the sense and substance of the data. P. Fitzgerald Even though they don't understand me they might gather the sense of my gestures.
b. The meaning or interpretation of a dream or allegory. Now rare. L16.
The content or theme of a passage or text. M16.
b. (A passage of) prose to be turned into Latin or Greek verse as an exercise. L17.
Satisfactory and intelligible meaning; coherence, intelligibility; speech or writing having this. L16.
M. Marrin The old-fashioned English habit of not talking sense to women.
Wisdom, logic, or reason in a discourse, course of action, etc. E17.
George Eliot There's a good deal o' sense in what you say. H. Kissinger Since Nixon had already made his decision, there was no sense in debating it.
Chiefly Math.
a. A direction in which motion takes place. L18.
b. That which distinguishes a pair of objects, vector quantities, etc. which differ only in that each is the reverse or mirror-image of the other. L19.
II. Faculty of perception or sensation.
Any of the special bodily faculties, esp. sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch (the five senses), by which humans and animals are able to perceive external objects and stimuli; a similar faculty concerned with internal stimuli esp. relating to balance and motion. Also, an analogous faculty of a hypothetical or undefined kind. E16.
M. Tippett As a musician my sharpest sense is that of sound. J. Gardner Nick Blue had a kind of sense..he'd known..when the blizzard was coming. Y. Menuhin He..sniffed the air, and exclaimed, 'I smell a horse!'he had the keenest senses.
b. A sensory organ. E16-E17.
c. A sense or faculty indicated by a particular context. Now rare or obsolete. E17.
A. Radcliffe He perceived the countenance of the knight change..till his..form gradually vanished from his astonished sense.
The senses viewed as a single faculty; the exercise of this faculty, the ability to perceive or feel, sensation. M16.
E. Caird The doctrine that sense is confused thought.
Ability to feel pain, irritation, etc., sensitivity. M16-L18.
A mental faculty as opp. to a bodily one. M16.
a. In pl. & sing. The mental faculties in a state of sanity; one's reason or wits. M16.
b. In pl. & collect. sing. The faculties of perception as negated by sleep or unconsciousness. L16.
E. Parsons His senses fled, and he fell extended on the floor.
c. In pl. & collect. sing. The faculties of sensation as a means of gratifying desire through sensual pleasure. L16.
Goldsmith Small is the bliss that sense alone bestows, And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
Instinctive or acquired capacity to comprehend or appreciate a (specified) matter, quality, subject, etc.; quick or accurate understanding of, awareness of, instinct or feel for. E17.
dress-sense, money-sense, road-sense, etc.; sense of beauty, sense of colour, sense of duty, sense of fun, sense of honour, sense of humour, sense of rhythm, sense of shame, etc.
Natural soundness of judgement, practical wisdom or intelligence, common sense. L17.
J. Galt I thought they had more sense than to secede from Christianity to become Utilitarians. D. Madden For Christ's sake have sense You can't lie here..until you bleed to death. M. Forster You have far too much sense to take this personally.
attrib. or as adjective. Genetics. Relating to or designating a coding sequence of nucleotides, complementary to (and hence capable of binding to) an antisense sequence. Cf. ANTISENSE. L20.
III. Actual perception or feeling.
Feeling or perception of a thing experienced through the sense of touch, smell, etc. Also, mental awareness or realization of a fact, state of affairs, etc. M16.
G. Stein Then would come strong to him, a sense of the deep sweetness in Melanctha's loving.
b. Emotional sensibility or consciousness of something; regretful, grateful, or sympathetic appreciation or recognition. E17.
N. Hawthorne No better way of showing our sense of his hospitality..has occurred to us.
An opinion, view, or judgement held or formed by a group of people or (formerly) by an individual (arch.); spec. the prevailing view of a group etc. M16.
Burke A House of Commons which does not speak the sense of the people.
A more or less vague perception or impression of an object, fact, state of affairs, etc. Foll. by of, that. L16.
J. Galsworthy A sense that a man of his distinction should never have been allowed to..work. A. J. Cronin The sense of being buried..was singularly oppressive. E. Templeton An object left behind by a long-lost friend increases our sense of loss.
A consciousness or recognition of a quality etc. in oneself; awareness of one's conduct etc. E17.
J. R. Lowell Giving Eve a due sense of her crime. C. Hare The Chancellor of the Exchequer's sense of his own importance had had time to re-establish itself.
Phrases: bring a person to his or her senses cure a person of folly, restore to reality. come to one's senses (a) regain consciousness; (b) become sensible after acting foolishly. COMMON SENSE. dress sense: see DRESS noun. good sense common sense, practical wisdom. have the sense be wise or sensible enough to do something. horse sense: see HORSE noun. in a sense, in one sense, in a sense if the statement, situation, etc., is looked at or considered in a particular or specified way. in no sense in no way, not at all. in one's own sense, in one's sense in one's opinion, according to one's judgement, (chiefly in abound in one's own sense s.v. ABOUND 4). in one's senses rational, sane. make sense be intelligible, logical, or practicable. make sense of find or show the meaning of, make comprehensible. man of sense a sagacious or sensible man. moral sense: see MORAL adjective. out of one's senses in or into a state of madness. sense of DIRECTION. sixth sense: see SIXTH adjective. take leave of one's senses: see LEAVE noun1. take the sense of the meeting ascertain the prevailing opinion of a group etc. the five senses: see sense 8 above. under a sense of wrong feeling wronged.
Comb.: sense aerial = sense-finder below; sense-content (a) Philosophy = sense-datum below; (b) the sense or meaning contained in an idea or text; sense-datum Philosophy an immediate object, usu. non-material, of any of the senses, an element of sensory experience; sense-experience experience derived from the senses; sense-finder an aerial designed for sense-finding; sense-finding in certain radio direction-finders, the operation of determining which of two indicated directions 180 degrees apart is correct; sense-organ a bodily organ conveying (esp. external) stimuli to the sensory system.