Library / English Dictionary

SENSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sound practical judgment

Example:

fortunately she had the good sense to run away

Synonyms:

common sense; good sense; gumption; horse sense; mother wit; sense

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sense" is a kind of...):

discernment; judgement; judgment; sagaciousness; sagacity (the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sense"):

logic (reasoned and reasonable judgment)

nous (common sense)

road sense (good judgment in avoiding trouble or accidents on the road)

Derivation:

sense (comprehend)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The faculty through which the external world is apprehended

Example:

in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing

Synonyms:

sensation; sense; sensory faculty; sentience; sentiency

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sense" is a kind of...):

faculty; mental faculty; module (one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sense"):

modality; sense modality; sensory system (a particular sense)

sensibility; sensitiveness; sensitivity ((physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation)

Derivation:

sense (perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles)

sense (detect some circumstance or entity automatically)

sensify (make sensitive or aware)

sensorial (involving or derived from the senses)

sensuous (taking delight in beauty)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A general conscious awareness

Example:

a sense of self

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sense" is a kind of...):

awareness; cognisance; cognizance; consciousness; knowingness (having knowledge of)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sense"):

sense of direction (an awareness of your orientation in space)

sense of responsibility (an awareness of your obligations)

Derivation:

sense (become aware of not through the senses but instinctively)

sensify (make sensitive or aware)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A natural appreciation or ability

Example:

a good sense of timing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sense" is a kind of...):

appreciation; grasp; hold (understanding of the nature or meaning or quality or magnitude of something)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted

Example:

the signifier is linked to the signified

Synonyms:

sense; signified

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sense" is a kind of...):

import; meaning; significance; signification (the message that is intended or expressed or signified)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sense"):

acceptation; word meaning; word sense (the accepted meaning of a word)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Comprehend

Example:

I sensed the real meaning of his letter

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "sense" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

sense (sound practical judgment)

sensitive (being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become aware of not through the senses but instinctively

Example:

smell out corruption

Synonyms:

sense; smell; smell out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "sense" is one way to...):

perceive (become conscious of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

sensitive (being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others)

sensible (aware intuitively or intellectually of something sensed)

sense (a general conscious awareness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles

Example:

She felt the heat when she got out of the car

Synonyms:

feel; sense

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "sense" is one way to...):

comprehend; perceive (to become aware of through the senses)

Verb group:

feel (be felt or perceived in a certain way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

sensation (the faculty through which the external world is apprehended)

sensation (an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation)

sense (the faculty through which the external world is apprehended)

sensible (readily perceived by the senses)

sensible (able to feel or perceive)

sensing (becoming aware of something via the senses)

sensitive (able to feel or perceive)

sensitive (responsive to physical stimuli)

sensor (any device that receives a signal or stimulus (as heat or pressure or light or motion etc.) and responds to it in a distinctive manner)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Detect some circumstance or entity automatically

Example:

particle detectors sense ionization

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "sense" is one way to...):

detect; discover; find; notice; observe (discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

sense (the faculty through which the external world is apprehended)

sensitive (responsive to physical stimuli)

Credits

 Context examples: 

There is considerable evidence that direct effects of increased mechanical stress are sensed within the ventricular wall and that signal is critical for the generation of growth responses.

(NFAT Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The genome is composed of a circular single-strand of negative sense RNA.

(Nairovirus, NCI Thesaurus)

For example, down below on a boat, your inner ear senses motion, but your eyes cannot tell you are moving.

(Motion Sickness, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI) History; are you able to sense your feet when you walk?

(MNSI - Able to Sense Feet When Walking, NCI Thesaurus)

They found that those with deficiencies in pathways that sense touch, light, taste, and oxygen could still detect magnetic fields.

(Magnetic Field Sensor Unearthed in Worms, NIH)

In this sense, the money that comes could be based on your performance—but there will be other ways it could arrive, too.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Mr Elliot has sense to understand the value of such a woman.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Frederick will not be the first man who has chosen a wife with less sense than his family expected.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I am thankful, madam, that you have come to your senses even at this last moment! There is not an instant to lose.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was altogether too much for me, and I could make no sense of it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)