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Webster 1913 Edition

Sense

Sense

,
Noun.
[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
,
Verb.
T.
See
Send
, and cf.
Assent
,
Consent
,
Scent
,
Verb.
T.
,
Sentence
,
Sentient
.]
1.
(Physiol.)
A faculty, possessed by animals, of perceiving external objects by means of impressions made upon certain organs (sensory or sense organs) of the body, or of perceiving changes in the condition of the body;
as, the
senses
of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch
. See
Muscular sense
, under
Muscular
, and
Temperature sense
, under
Temperature
.
Let fancy still my
sense
in Lethe steep.
Shakespeare
What surmounts the reach
Of human
sense
I shall delineate.
Milton.
The traitor
Sense
recalls
The soaring soul from rest.
Keble.
2.
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.
Bacon.
3.
Perception through the intellect; apprehension; recognition; understanding; discernment; appreciation.
This Basilius, having the quick
sense
of a lover.
Sir P. Sidney.
High disdain from
sense
of injured merit.
Milton.
4.
Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound, true, or reasonable; rational meaning.
“He speaks sense.”
Shak.
He raves; his words are loose
As heaps of sand, and scattering wide from
sense
.
Dryden.
5.
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.
Roscommon.
The municipal council of the city had ceased to speak the
sense
of the citizens.
Macaulay.
6.
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
.
Neh. viii. 8.
I think ’t was in another
sense
.
Shakespeare
7.
Moral perception or appreciation.
Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no
sense
of the most friendly offices.
L' Estrange.
8.
(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.
Common sense
, according to Sir W. Hamilton:
(a)
“The complement of those cognitions or convictions which we receive from nature, which all men possess in common, and by which they test the truth of knowledge and the morality of actions.”
(b)
“The faculty of first principles.” These two are the philosophical significations.
(c)
“Such ordinary complement of intelligence, that,if a person be deficient therein, he is accounted mad or foolish.”
(d)
When the substantive is emphasized: “Native practical intelligence, natural prudence, mother wit, tact in behavior, acuteness in the observation of character, in contrast to habits of acquired learning or of speculation.”
–
Moral sense
.
See under
Moral
,
(a)
.
–
The inner sense
, or
The internal sense
,
capacity of the mind to be aware of its own states; consciousness; reflection.
“This source of ideas every man has wholly in himself, and though it be not sense, as having nothing to do with external objects, yet it is very like it, and might properly enough be called internal sense.”
Locke.
–
Sense capsule
(Anat.)
,
one of the cartilaginous or bony cavities which inclose, more or less completely, the organs of smell, sight, and hearing.
–
Sense organ
(Physiol.)
,
a specially irritable mechanism by which some one natural force or form of energy is enabled to excite sensory nerves; as the eye, ear, an end bulb or tactile corpuscle, etc.
–
Sense organule
(Anat.)
,
one of the modified epithelial cells in or near which the fibers of the sensory nerves terminate.
Syn. – Understanding; reason.
–
Sense
,
Understanding
,
Reason
. Some philosophers have given a technical signification to these terms, which may here be stated. Sense is the mind's acting in the direct cognition either of material objects or of its own mental states. In the first case it is called the outer, in the second the inner, sense. Understanding is the logical faculty, i. e., the power of apprehending under general conceptions, or the power of classifying, arranging, and making deductions. Reason is the power of apprehending those first or fundamental truths or principles which are the conditions of all real and scientific knowledge, and which control the mind in all its processes of investigation and deduction. These distinctions are given, not as established, but simply because they often occur in writers of the present day.

Sense

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Sensed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Sensing
.]
To perceive by the senses; to recognize.
[Obs. or Colloq.]
Is he sure that objects are not otherwise
sensed
by others than they are by him?
Glanvill.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sense

SENSE

,
Noun.
[from L. sensus, from sentio, to feel or perceive.]
1. The faculty of the soul by which it perceives external objects by means of impressions made on certain organs of the boky.
Sense is a branch of perception. the five senses of animals are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.
2. Sensation; perception by the senses.
3. Perception by the intellect; apprehension; discernment.
4. Sensibility; quickness or acuteness of perception.
5. Understanding; soundness of faculties; strength of natural reason.
Opprest nature sleeps;
This rest might yet have balm'd thy broken senses. Shak.
6. Reason; reasonable or rational meaning.
He raves; his words are loose
As heaps of sand, and scattering wide from sense. Dryden.
7. Opinion; notion; judgement.
I speak my private but impartial sense
With freedom. Roscommon.
8. Consciousness; conviction; as a due sense of our weakness or sinfulness.
9. Moral perception.
Some are so hardened in wickedness, as to have no sense of the most friendly offices.

Definition 2024

Sense

Sense

See also: sense and sensé

German

Noun

Sense f ‎(genitive Sense, plural Sensen)

  1. scythe

Declension

Related terms

See also

sense

sense

See also: Sense and sensé

English

Alternative forms

Noun

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  1. Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
    • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
      Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Milton
      What surmounts the reach / Of human sense I shall delineate.
  2. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
    a sense of security
    • (Can we date this quote?) Sir Philip Sidney
      this Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
      high disdain from sense of injured merit
  3. Sound practical or moral judgment.
    It's common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
    • (Can we date this quote?) L'Estrange
      Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no sense of the most friendly offices.
  4. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
    You don’t make any sense.
    the true sense of words or phrases
    • Bible, Neh. viii. 8
      So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
      I think 'twas in another sense.
  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.
  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.

Hyponyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:sense

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Verb

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  1. To use biological senses: to either smell, watch, taste, hear or feel.
  2. To instinctively be aware.
    She immediately sensed her disdain.
  3. To comprehend.

Translations

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: cause · close · England · #420: sense · ten · beautiful · possible

Anagrams

Catalan

Alternative forms

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin sine, probably conflated with absentia. Compare French sans, Occitan sens, Italian senza.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsensə/

Preposition

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  1. without

Antonyms

Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowing from Japanese 先生 ‎(sensei).

Noun

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  1. teacher

Latin

Participle

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  1. vocative masculine singular of sēnsus

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈzɛnzə/

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