Sense

noun
1.
any of the faculties, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body:
My sense of smell tells me that dinner is ready.
2.
these faculties collectively.
3.
their operation or function; sensation.
4.
a feeling or perception produced through the organs of touch, taste, etc., or resulting from a particular condition of some part of the body:
to have a sense of cold.
5.
a faculty or function of the mind analogous to sensation:
the moral sense.
6.
any special capacity for perception, estimation, appreciation, etc.:
a sense of humor.
7.
Usually, senses. clear and sound mental faculties; sanity:
Have you taken leave of your senses?
8.
a more or less vague perception or impression:
a sense of security.
9.
a mental discernment, realization, or recognition; acuteness:
a just sense of the worth of a thing.
10.
the recognition of something as incumbent or fitting:
a sense of duty.
11.
sound practical intelligence:
He has no sense.
12.
something that is sensible or reasonable:
Try to talk sense instead of shouting.
13.
the meaning or gist of something:
You missed the sense of his statement.
14.
the value or worth of something; merit:
There’s no sense in worrying about the past.
15.
the meaning of a word or phrase in a specific context, especially as isolated in a dictionary or glossary; the semantic element in a word or group of words.
16.
an opinion or judgment formed or held, especially by an assemblage or body of persons:
the sense of a meeting.
17.
Genetics. a DNA sequence that is capable of coding for an amino acid (distinguished from nonsense).
18.
Mathematics. one of two opposite directions in which a vector may point.
verb (used with object), sensed, sensing.
19.
to perceive (something) by the senses; become aware of.
20.
to grasp the meaning of; understand.
21.
(of certain mechanical devices) to detect physical phenomena, as light, temperature, radioactivity, etc., mechanically, electrically, or photoelectrically.
22.
Computers. to read (punched holes, tape, data, etc.) mechanically, electrically, or photoelectrically.
Idioms
23.
come to one’s senses, to regain one’s good judgment or realistic point of view; become reasonable.
24.
in a sense, according to one explanation or view; to a certain extent:
In a sense it may have been the only possible solution.
25.
make sense, to be reasonable or comprehensible:
His attitude doesn’t make sense.
noun
1.
any of the faculties by which the mind receives information about the external world or about the state of the body. In addition to the five traditional faculties of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell, the term includes the means by which bodily position, temperature, pain, balance, etc, are perceived
2.
such faculties collectively; the ability to perceive
3.
a feeling perceived through one of the senses: a sense of warmth
4.
a mental perception or awareness: a sense of happiness
5.
moral discernment; understanding: a sense of right and wrong
6.
(sometimes pl) sound practical judgment or intelligence: he is a man without any sense
7.
reason or purpose: what is the sense of going out in the rain?
8.
substance or gist; meaning: what is the sense of this proverb?
9.
specific meaning; definition: in what sense are you using the word?
10.
an opinion or consensus
11.
(maths) one of two opposite directions measured on a directed line; the sign as contrasted with the magnitude of a vector
12.
(logic, linguistics)

the import of an expression as contrasted with its referent. Thus the morning star and the evening star have the same reference, Venus, but different senses
the property of an expression by virtue of which its referent is determined
that which one grasps in understanding an expression

13.
make sense, to be reasonable or understandable
14.
take leave of one’s senses, See leave2 (sense 8)
verb (transitive)
15.
to perceive through one or more of the senses
16.
to apprehend or detect without or in advance of the evidence of the senses
17.
to understand
18.
(computing)

to test or locate the position of (a part of computer hardware)
to read (data)

sense (sěns)
n.

Any of the faculties by which stimuli from outside or inside the body are received and felt, as the faculties of hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste, and equilibrium.

A perception or feeling that is produced by a stimulus; sensation, as of hunger.

v. sensed, sens·ing, sens·es
To become aware of; perceive.

human language
A meaning of a word.
(2007-05-03)