sense

Etymology

From Middle English sense, borrowed from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, reason, direction”); partly from Latin sensus (“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”). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

noun

1. Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
2. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
   a sense of security
3. Sound practical or moral judgment.
   It's common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
4. The meaning, reason, or value of something.
   You don’t make any sense.
   1. Any particular meaning of a word, among its various meanings.
      word sense disambiguation
      the various senses of the word "car" (e.g., motor car, elevator car, railcar)
5. A natural appreciation or ability.
   A keen musical sense
6. (pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
7. (semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.
   The word set has various senses.
8. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
9. (mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
10. (biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

verb

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.