sense

See also Sense

English

Wikipedia Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English sense, 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 Frankish *sinn (“reason, judgement, mental faculty, way, direction”), from Proto-Germanic *sinnaz (“mind, meaning”). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”). Compare French assener (“to thrust out”), forcené (“maniac”). More at send.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĕns, IPA: /sɛns/, X-SAMPA: /sEns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Noun

sense (plural senses)

1. One of the methods for a living being to gather data about the world; sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
2. A general conscious awareness.

   a sense of security

3. Sound practical judgment, as in common sense.
4. The meaning, reason, or value of something.

   You don’t make any 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.

Hyponyms

• See also Wikisaurus:sense

Derived terms

• transferred sense

Related terms

• sensation
• sensible
• sensitive
• sensual
• sensuous
• sensor

Translations

method to gather data

• Afrikaans: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Amharic: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: sentíu (ast) m
• Aymara: please add this translation if you can
• Azeri: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: sentit (ca) m
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
• Corsican: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: smysl (cs) m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: zintuig (nl) n
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: aisti (fi)
• French: sens (fr) m
• Galician: sentido (gl) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Sinn (de) m
• Hebrew: חוש (he) (khúsh) m
• Hungarian: érzék (hu)
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: céadfa (ga) f
• Italian: senso (it) m
• Japanese: 感覚 (ja) (kankaku)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latgalian: nūjauta f

• Latvian: maņa (lv) f
• Lithuanian: nuojauta (lt) f, uoslė (lt) f
• Luganda: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: indera (ms), deria (ms)
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Manx: ennaghtyn (gv) m, keeall (gv) f
• Marathi: please add this translation if you can
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: sens (no) m
• Novial: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: sentit (oc) m, sens (oc) m
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: zmysł (pl) m
• Portuguese: sentido (pt) m
• Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Romansch: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: чувство (ru) (čúvstvo) n, ощущение (ru) (oščuščénije) n
• Scots: please add this translation if you can
• Scottish Gaelic: ceudfath (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: osjet (sh) m
• Sicilian: sensu (scn) m, senzu (scn) m
• Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: čutilo (sl) n, čut (sl) m
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: sentido (es) m
• Swedish: sinne (sv) n
• Turkish: duyu (tr)
• Volapük: sien (vo)
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can
• Yoruba: please add this translation if you can
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

conscious awareness

• Arabic: احساس (ar) (’eħsās) m
• Catalan: sensació (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 感覺 (cmn), 感觉 (cmn) (gǎnjué)

• Danish: fornemmelse (da)
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: gevoel (nl) n, gewaarwording (nl) f
• Finnish: tunne (fi)
• French: sens (fr) m
• Georgian: გრძნობა (ka) (გრძნობა (grjnoba)
• German: Gefühl (de) n, Sinn (de) m
• Hebrew: תחושה (he) (tkhúsha) f
• Hungarian: érzés (hu), érzet (hu)
• Irish: ciall (ga) f
• Italian: senso (it) m, coscienza (it) f, sensazione (it) f

• Japanese: 感覚 (ja) (kankaku), 意識 (ja) (ishiki)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 감각 (ko) (gamgak)
• Latgalian: pajauta f, jutūne f
• Latvian: sajūta (lv)
• Lithuanian: jutimas (lt), jausmas (lt)
• Manx: keeall (gv) f
• Portuguese: senso (pt) m
• Russian: чувство (ru) (čúvstvo) n, ощущение (ru) (oščuščénije) n
• Scottish Gaelic: ciall (gd) f, brìgh (gd) f, mothachadh (gd) m, faireachdainn (gd) m, cudthrom (gd) m
• Slovene: občutek (sl) m
• Spanish: sensación (es) f
• Swedish: sinne (sv) n
• Telugu: స్పృహ (te) (spr̥ha)

sound judgement

• Asturian: sentíu (ast) m
• Catalan: sentit (ca) m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: (gezond) verstand n
• Finnish: järki (fi)
• French: sens (fr) m
• Galician: sentido (gl) m
• German: Sinn (de) m
• Hebrew: הגיון (he) (higayón) m
• Hungarian: értelem (hu)

• Irish: ciall (ga) f, réasún (ga) m
• Italian: senso (it) m
• Japanese: 感覚 (ja) (kankaku), 意識 (ja) (ishiki), 分別 (ja) (funbetsu)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Manx: keeall (gv) f
• Occitan: sens (oc) m
• Portuguese: sentido (pt) m
• Spanish: sentido (es) m
• Swedish: förnuft (sv) n, förstånd (sv) n, sinne (sv) n
• Welsh: pwyll (cy) m

meaning or reason

• Armenian: իմաստ (hy) (imast)
• Asturian: sentíu (ast) m
• Catalan: sentit (ca) m
• Czech: smysl (cs) m, význam (cs) m
• Finnish: järki (fi)
• French: sens (fr) m
• Galician: sentido (gl) m
• German: Verstand (de) m
• Greek: νόημα (el) (nóima) n
• Hungarian: értelem (hu)
• Irish: ciall (ga) f
• Italian: senso (it) m, significato (it) m
• Japanese: 意味 (ja) (imi)
• Korean: 뜻 (ko) (tteut), 의미 (ko) (uimi)
• Latgalian: jāga f, zeimeiba f

• Latvian: jēga (lv) f
• Lithuanian: prasmė (lt) f
• Manx: keeall (gv) f
• Polish: sens (pl) m
• Portuguese: sentido (pt) m
• Romansch: senn (rm) m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran), sen (rm) m (Sutsilvan, Puter, Vallader)
• Russian: смысл (ru) (smysl) m
• Scottish Gaelic: seagh (gd) m, brìgh (gd) f, ciallachadh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: smisao (sh) m
• Slovak: zmysel (sk) m
• Slovene: smisel (sl) m
• Spanish: sentido (es) m
• Swedish: mening (sv) c, bemärkelse (sv) c

natural ability

• Finnish: kyky (fi), lahja (fi), lahjakkuus (fi), vaisto (fi)
• German: Sinn (de)
• Hebrew: חוש (he) (khúsh) m
• Hungarian: érzék (hu)
• Irish: ciall (ga) f

• Japanese: 感覚 (ja) (kankaku), センス (ja) (sensu)
• Manx: keeall (gv) f
• Portuguese: sentido (pt) m, senso (pt) m
• Russian: чувство (ru) (čúvstvo) n,
• Spanish: sentido (es) m

pragmatics term

semantics term

• Arabic: معنى (ar) (maʕna) m
• Armenian: իմաստ (hy) (imast)
• Asturian: significáu (ast) m, aceición (ast) f, acepción (ast) f
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: significat (ca) m, accepció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 意義 (cmn), 意义 (cmn) (yìyì)

• Czech: smysl (cs) m, význam (cs) m
• Dutch: betekenis (nl) f
• Finnish: merkitys (fi)
• French: sens (fr) m
• Galician: significado (gl) m, significación (gl) f, acepción (gl) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Sinn (de) m, Bedeutung (de) f

• Hebrew: מובן (he) (muván) m
• Hungarian: értelem (hu)
• Irish: ciall (ga) f
• Italian: senso (it) m, significato (it) m
• Japanese: 意味 (ja) (imi)
• Korean: 감각 (ko) (gamgak)
• Manx: keeall (gv) f
• Portuguese: sentido (pt) m, significação (pt) f, acepção (pt) f, significado (pt) m
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: смысл (ru) (smysl) m
• Slovene: pomen (sl) m
• Spanish: significado (es) m, acepción (es) f, sentido (es) m, significación (es) f
• Swedish: betydelse (sv) c
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can

math: direction of a vector

• Finnish: suunta (fi)
• Italian: verso (it) m

• Russian: направление (ru) (napravl'énie) n
• Spanish: sentido (es) m

math: direction of rotation

• Finnish: pyörimissuunta (fi)
• Russian: направление (ru) (napravl'énie) n

• Spanish: sentido (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Mandarin: 官能 (guānnèng), 感官 (gǎnguāng), 识别力 (shíbié lì)

See also

• business sense
• common sense
• sixth sense
• sight / vision
• hearing / audition
• taste / gustation
• smell / olfaction
• touch / tactition
• thermoception
• nociception
• equilibrioception
• proprioception

Verb

sense (third-person singular simple present senses, present participle sensing, simple past and past participle sensed)

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

use biological senses

• Asturian: sentir (ast)
• Catalan: sentir (ca)
• Dutch: gewaarworden (nl), waarnemen (nl)
• Finnish: aistia (fi)
• French: sentir (fr)
• Galician: sentir (gl)
• German: wahrnehmen (de)
• Hebrew: חש (he) (khash)

• Japanese: 感じる (ja) (kanjiru)
• Old Church Slavonic: чѹти (čuti)
• Portuguese: sentir (pt)
• Russian: чувствовать (ru) (čúvstvovat') impf., почувствовать (ru) (počúvstvovat') pf.; ощущать (ru) (oščuščát') impf., ощутить (ru) (oščutít') pf.
• Spanish: sentir (es)
• Turkish: algılamak (tr), duyumsamak (tr)

to instinctively be aware

• Finnish: vaistota (fi)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 感じる (ja) (kanjiru), 察する (ja) (sassuru), 気づく (ja) (kizuku)
• Mandarin: 感觉到 (cmn)
• Portuguese: sentir (pt)

• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: чувствовать (ru) (čúvstvovat') impf., почувствовать (ru) (počúvstvovat') pf.; ощущать (ru) (oščuščát') impf., ощутить (ru) (oščutít') pf.
• Spanish: sentir (es)

to comprehend

• Japanese: 感じる (ja) (kanjiru), 察する (ja) (sassuru), 気づく (ja) (kizuku)

• Spanish: dar sentido (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: sentire

• Italian: sentire

Statistics

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

Anagrams

• senes

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Catalan

Alternative forms

• sens

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin sine. Compare French sans.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsensə/, X-SAMPA: /"sens@/

Preposition

sense

1. without

Antonyms

• amb

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Latin

Participle

sēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of sēnsus