sense

sense1 [ sens ] noun ***

1. ) count sense of a strong feeling or belief about yourself:

Winning an award would give me a great sense of achievement.

They say they are dealing with the problem, but there seems to be no sense of urgency.

a sense of optimism/confidence/well-being: A little bit of praise and appreciation can give people a real sense of well-being.

a sense of foreboding/unease/panic: Beth read Jake's letter with a mounting sense of panic.

a sense of identity/belonging/community: It's a small village with a strong sense of local identity.

2. ) count one of the natural abilities that most people have to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel things, known as the five senses:

sense of smell/taste/touch etc.: Our sense of smell improves as fading light reduces vision.

a ) singular a natural ability or quality that some people have:

You need a good sense of balance to skate well.

sense of humor (=the ability to laugh at things or say funny things): She has a great sense of humor.

sense of direction (=an ability to know where you are going, even when you are in a place you do not know): I'm sure he'll be able to find the house he has a pretty good sense of direction.

business sense: Our father was a good designer, but he had no business sense.

b ) uncount the ability to behave in an intelligent way and make good decisions:

He should have had the sense to park the car in the shade.

talk sense (=speak in an intelligent way): At least they have someone who can talk sense on the subject.

3. ) uncount a good reason or a useful purpose:

There's no sense in going ahead until the costs have been agreed on.

see some sense (=start behaving in a reasonable way): I hope the governor will see some sense and accept the recommendation.

a ) senses plural a reasonable way of talking and behaving:

bring someone to their senses (=make someone become reasonable): What's it going to take to bring him to his senses?

come to your senses (=become reasonable): Portman urged the government to come to its senses and stop nuclear testing.

take leave of your senses (=become crazy): Why would he spend that much on a car? He must have taken leave of his senses.

4. ) count the meaning of a word or phrase:

The word bank has a number of senses.

We are talking about vocational training in the broadest sense.

a ) singular a way of thinking about or understanding something, although there may be other ways:

in a sense: My family's from this area, so in a sense it's like coming home.

in one sense: In one sense, Robertson is a typical politician.

make sense

1. ) to be practical and sensible:

It makes sense to keep such information on file for reference.

It made good sense to continue with the reforms.

2. ) to be easy to understand:

Her argument makes perfect sense to me.

make sense of something

to understand something that is complicated or unusual:

We've been trying to make sense of our dreams.

=> DRESS SENSE, HORSE SENSE, SIXTH SENSE

sense

sense 2 [ sens ] verb transitive **

1. ) to know about something through a natural ability or feeling, without being told:

Cats seem to instinctively sense his fear.

sense (that): I think she must have sensed there was something wrong.

I guess he sensed that I was a little nervous.

2. ) if a machine senses a change, it discovers it:

The machine senses when the engine gets too hot, and shuts itself off.