sense ( senses plural & 3rd person present) ( sensing present participle) ( sensed past tense & past participle )
1 n-count Your senses are the physical abilities of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste.
She stared at him again, unable to believe the evidence of her senses., ...a keen sense of smell.
2 verb If you sense something, you become aware of it or you realize it, although it is not very obvious.
She probably sensed that I wasn't telling her the whole story... V that
He looks about him, sensing danger... V n
Prost had sensed what might happen. V wh
3 n-sing If you have a sensethat something is the case, you think that it is the case, although you may not have firm, clear evidence for this belief.
N that, N of n
Suddenly you got this sense that people were drawing themselves away from each other..., There is no sense of urgency on either side.
sense of occasion
4 n-sing If you have a sense of guilt or relief, for example, you feel guilty or relieved.
N of n
When your child is struggling for life, you feel this overwhelming sense of guilt...
5 n-sing If you have a sense of something such as duty or justice, you are aware of it and believe it is important.
N of n
We must keep a sense of proportion about all this..., She needs to regain a sense of her own worth.
6 n-sing Someone who has a senseof timing or style has a natural ability with regard to timing or style. You can also say that someone has a bad senseof timing or style.
N of n, also n N
He has an impeccable sense of timing..., Her dress sense is appalling.
sense of humour
7 n-uncount Sense is the ability to make good judgments and to behave sensibly.
...when he was younger and had a bit more sense..., When that doesn't work they sometimes have the sense to seek help...
8 n-sing If you say that there is no sense or little sensein doing something, you mean that it is not a sensible thing to do because nothing useful would be gained by doing it.
with neg, N in -ing, N -ing
There's no sense in pretending this doesn't happen...
9 n-count A sense of a word or expression is one of its possible meanings.
...a noun which has two senses..., Then she remembered that they had no mind in any real sense of that word.
10 Sense is used in several expressions to indicate how true your statement is. For example, if you say that something is true in a sense, you mean that it is partly true, or true in one way. If you say that something is true in a general sense, you mean that it is true in a general way.
in a sense phrase PHR with cl
In a sense, both were right..., In one sense, the fact that few new commercial buildings can be financed does not matter..., He's not the leader in a political sense..., Though his background was modest, it was in no sense deprived.
11 If something makes sense, you can understand it.
make sense phrase V inflects
He was sitting there saying, `Yes, the figures make sense.'
12 When you make sense of something, you succeed in understanding it.
make sense of sth phrase V inflects
This is to help her to come to terms with her early upbringing and make sense of past experiences.
13 If a course of action makes sense, it seems sensible.
make sense phrase V inflects, oft it PHR to-inf
It makes sense to look after yourself..., The project should be re-appraised to see whether it made sound economic sense...
14 If you say that someone has come to their senses or has been brought to their senses, you mean that they have stopped being foolish and are being sensible again.
come to one's senses/bring sb to their senses phrase V inflects
Eventually the world will come to its senses and get rid of them...
15 If you say that someone seems to have taken leave of their senses, you mean that they have done or said something very foolish.
have taken leave of one's senses phrase V inflects
They looked at me as if I had taken leave of my senses.
16 If you say that someone talks sense, you mean that what they say is sensible.
talk sense phrase V inflects
17 If you have a sense that something is true or get a sense that something is true, you think that it is true.
have a sense that/get a sense that phrase V inflects
Do you have the sense that you are loved by the public?
common sense , commonsense
Your common sense is your natural ability to make good judgments and to behave in a practical and sensible way. n-uncount
Use your common sense..., ...a common-sense approach.
Someone's dress sense is their ability to choose clothes that make them look attractive. n-uncount
I've no dress sense at all...
sense of direction
1 n-sing Your sense of direction is your ability to know roughly where you are, or which way to go, even when you are in an unfamiliar place.
He had a poor sense of direction and soon got lost.
2 n-sing If you say that someone has a sense of direction, you mean that they seem to have clear ideas about what they want to do or achieve., (approval)
The country now had a sense of direction again.
sense of humour
in AM, use sense of humor
Someone who has a sense of humour often finds things amusing, rather than being serious all the time. n-sing
He had enormous charm and a great sense of humour.
sense of occasion
If there is a sense of occasion when a planned event takes place, people feel that something special and important is happening. n-sing
There is a great sense of occasion and a terrific standard of musicianship.
sense organ ( sense organs plural ) Your sense organs are the parts of your body, for example your eyes and your ears, which enable you to be aware of things around you.
FORMAL n-count usu pl
If you say that someone has a sixth sense, you mean that they seem to have a natural ability to know about things before other people, or to know things that other people do not know. n-sing
The interesting thing about O'Reilly is his sixth sense for finding people who have good ideas.