Join free

sense

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

sense

  • /sɛns/
  • /sɛnts/
  • /sɪns/ pin pen merger
  • /sɪnts/ pin pen merger

Sounds like cents, scents, since (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛns

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sent-der.

Proto-Italic *sentiō

Latin sentiō

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Italic *-tus

Latin -tus

Latin sēnsusbor.

Proto-Germanic *sinnaz

Frankish *sinnbor.

Vulgar Latin *sennus

Old French sensbor.

Middle English sense

English sense

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”).

noun senses · sence

  1. countable, uncountable 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.
  2. countable, uncountable Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness. a sense of security
  3. countable, uncountable Sound practical or moral judgment. It’s common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
  4. countable, uncountable The meaning, reason, or value of something. You don’t make any sense.
  5. countable, uncountable A meaning of a term (word or expression), among its various meanings. the various senses of the word “car” (e.g., motor car, elevator car, railcar)
  6. countable, uncountable A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries or definitions for a word in a dictionary.
  7. countable, uncountable A natural appreciation or ability. A keen musical sense
  8. countable, uncountable The way that a referent is presented.
  9. countable, uncountable One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
  10. countable, uncountable One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
  11. countable, uncountable referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

Similar: non-nonsense, sense

verb senses · sensing · sensed · sence

  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.

Talk about this word