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sense

  • noun 1 any of the faculties of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, by which the body perceives an external stimulus. 2 a feeling that something is the case. 3 (sense of) awareness or appreciation of or sensitivity to: a sense of direction. 4 a sane and practical attitude to situations. 5 reason or purpose; good judgement: there’s no sense in standing in the rain. 6 a meaning of a word or expression or the way in which a word or expression can be interpreted.

  • verb 1 perceive by a sense or senses. 2 be vaguely aware of. 3 (of a machine or similar device) detect.

  — PHRASES come to one’s senses 1 regain consciousness. 2 regain one’s sound judgement. make sense be intelligible, justifiable, or practicable. make sense of find meaning or coherence in.

  — ORIGIN Latin sensus ‘faculty of feeling, thought, meaning’, from sentire ‘feel’.

 

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