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sense

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Any of the five ways we perceive the world: sight smell hearing touch taste

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sehns
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɛns

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

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

  2. Sound practical or moral judgment.

    “Common sense is not so common.”

  3. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.

  4. The meaning, reason, or value of something.

  5. A meaning of a term (word or expression), among its various meanings.

  6. A natural appreciation or ability

verb

  1. To use biological senses: to either see, hear, smell, taste, or feel.

  2. Become aware of not through the senses but instinctively

  3. Comprehend

    “I sensed the real meaning of his letter.”

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

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

Used this way, sense is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use sense

  • “In the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing.”noun
  • “I sensed the real meaning of his letter.”verb
  • “This robot can sense the presence of people in the room.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

common sensemake sensegood sensesense organssome sensestrong sense

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • sensingnounInflected form

    The perception that something has occurred or some state exists.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • sensornounPerson or profession · specialist

    Any device that receives a signal or stimulus (as heat or pressure or light or motion etc.) and responds to it in a distinctive manner.

  • sensationnounDerived noun · specialist

    An unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation.

  • sensibleadjectiveDerived adjective

    Showing reason or sound judgment.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • sense datumnounCompound term

    An unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation.

  • sense experiencenounCompound term

    An unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation.

  • sense impressionnounCompound term

    An unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation.

  • sense modalitynounCompound term

    A particular sense.

  • sense of balancenounCompound term

    A sensory system located in structures of the inner ear that registers the orientation of the head.

  • sense of directionnounCompound term

    An awareness of your orientation in space.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • sensoryadjectiveRelated term

    Involving or derived from the senses.

  • sensiblyadverbRelated term

    With good sense or in a reasonable or intelligent manner.

  • sensory systemnounRelated term

    A particular sense.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world

substance

verb

Sense: to use biological senses

feel

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.