make sense Definition

sense
noun

1. Any of the five main faculties used by an animal to obtain information about its external or internal environment, namely sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
2. An awareness or appreciation of, or an ability to make judgements regarding, some specified thing.

Example: She has a good sense of direction
Example: He has bad business sense
Thesaurus: appreciation, capability, talent, discernment, understanding, sensitivity, capacity, faculty.
3. Soundness of mind; one's wits or reason.

Example: He's lost his senses
Thesaurus: reason, logic, judgement, common sense, discretion, tact, intelligence, diplomacy, sanity, coherence.
Form: senses
4. Wisdom; practical worth.

Example: There's no sense in doing it now
5. A general feeling or emotion, not perceived by any of the five natural powers.

Example: a sense of guilt
Thesaurus: perception, awareness, impression, aura, scent, apprehension, prescience, intuition.
6. General, overall meaning.

Example: They understood the sense of the passage, if not all the words
Thesaurus: meaning, import, definition, denotation, signification, connotation, implication, content, intention.
7. Specific meaning

Example: In what sense do you mean?
8. General opinion; consensus.

Example: the sense of the meeting
Thesaurus: consensus, opinion, drift, tendency, direction, sentiment.

verb sensed, sensing

1. To detect a stimulus by means of any of the five main senses.

Thesaurus: detect, perceive, observe.
2. To be aware of something by means other than the five main senses.

Example: I sensed that someone was following me
Thesaurus: perceive, divine, realize, comprehend, understand, grasp, appreciate, guess.
3. To realize or comprehend.

Idiom: bring someone to their senses

To make them recognize the facts; to make them understand that they must rectify their behaviour.

Idiom: come to one's senses

To act sensibly and rationally after a period of foolishness.

To regain consciousness.

Idiom: in a sense

In one respect; in a way.

Idiom: make sense

To be understandable.

To be wise, rational or reasonable.

Idiom: make sense of something

To understand it; to see the purpose or explanation in it.

Idiom: take leave of one's senses

To begin behaving unreasonably or irrationally; to go mad.

Etymology: 14c: from Latin sensus, from sentire to feel.