sense

English Online Dictionary. What means sense‎? What does sense mean?

English

Alternative forms

• sence (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, reason, direction”); partly from Latin sēnsus (“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"; whence also Dutch zin, German Sinn, Swedish sinne, Norwegian sinn). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĕns, IPA^(key): /sɛn(t)s/
• (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /sɪn(t)s/
• Rhymes: -ɛns
• Homophones: cents, scents, since (pin-pen merger)

Noun

sense (countable and uncountable, plural senses)

2. Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
4. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
6. Sound practical or moral judgment.
8. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
   2. Any particular meaning of a word, among its various meanings.
10. A natural appreciation or ability.

12. (pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
14. (semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.

16. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
18. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
20. (biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

Synonyms

• non-nonsense

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:sense

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: sense

Translations

See also

Verb

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.

Translations

Anagrams

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

Afrikaans

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English sense.

Noun

sense (uncountable)

1. sense, good sense

Etymology 2

Noun

sense

1. plural of sens

Catalan

Alternative forms

• sens

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈsen.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈsən.sə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈsen.se]

Preposition

sense

1. without

   Antonym: amb

Derived terms

• sensefeina
• sensesostre

Further reading

• “sense” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “sense”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “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.

Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 先生 (sensei).

Noun

sense

1. teacher

Dutch

Noun

sense

1. Only used in sense maken

Latin

Pronunciation

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

Participle

sēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of sēnsus

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sens, sence

Etymology

From Old French sens, from Latin sensus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛns/

Noun

sense (plural senses)

1. meaning, signification; interpretation

Descendants

• English: sense
• Yola: zense

References

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

Occitan

Alternative forms

• sens
• shens (Gascony)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Preposition

sense

1. without

References

• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 556.

Spanish

Verb

sense

1. inflection of sensar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative