sense

• sence (archaic)

From Middle English sense, borrowed from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, reason, direction”); partly from Latin sensus (“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”). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

• enPR: sĕns, IPA^(key): /sɛn(t)s/

• Audio (GA)

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• Audio (UK)

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

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.
   • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

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

2. 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: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, OCLC 801077108; 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 318419127:

     this Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     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.

   • 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[ichard] Sare, […], OCLC 228727523:

     some People so Harden'd in Wickedness, as to have No Sense at all of the most Friendly Offices, or the Highest Benefits.

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 true sense of words or phrases

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Nehemiah 8:8:

        So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense.

      • c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:

        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.

   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.

• non-nonsense

• See also Thesaurus:sense

• aftersense
• common sense
• good sense
• nonsense

• → Afrikaans: sense

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.

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

Borrowed from English sense.

sense (uncountable)

1. sense, good sense

sense

1. plural of sens

• sens

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.

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /ˈsən.sə/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.sə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈsen.se/

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sense

1. without

   Antonym: amb

• sensefeina
• sensesostre

• “sense” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “sense”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “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.

Borrowed from Japanese 先生 (sensei).

sense

1. teacher

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsen.se/, [ˈs̠ẽːs̠ɛ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsen.se/, [ˈsɛnse]

sēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of sēnsus

• sens, sence

From Old French sens, from Latin sensus.

• IPA^(key): /sɛns/

sense (plural senses)

1. meaning, signification; interpretation

• English: sense
• Yola: zense

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

• sens
• shens (Gascony)

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

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sense

1. without

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2016, page 556.