sense

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   sound practical judgment

   Common sense is not so common

2. 2
   noun

   the faculty through which the external world is apprehended

   In the dark, we had to depend on our senses of touch, smell and hearing.

3. 3
   noun

   a general conscious awareness

   a sense of security

4. 4
   noun

   a natural appreciation or ability

   a keen musical sense

5. 5
   verb

   comprehend

   I sensed the real meaning of the letter.

6. 6
   verb

   to become aware of not through the senses but instinctively

   I sensed their hostility towards me.

7. 7
   verb

   detect some circumstance or entity automatically

   This robot can sense the presence of people in the room

8. 8
   noun

   Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.

   Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.

Etymology

From Middle English sense, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, perception, 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”).