sense noun

1 one of the five natural physical powers of the body

ADJ. acute, good, keen | poor | sixth

VERB + SENSE have He has an acute sense of smell. | lose She lost her sense of hearing early in life. | regain | heighten, sharpen | dull | appeal to He argued that art should appeal to the senses rather than the intellect.

SENSE + VERB tell sb When she came to, her senses told her she was lying on a sandy beach. | reel, swim Her senses reeled as she fought for consciousness.

SENSE + NOUN organ

PREP. through the ~s Although he can't see, he learns a lot through his other senses.

PHRASES an assault on the senses, the evidence of your senses, the five senses, the sense of hearing/sight/smell/taste/touch

2 understanding/awareness of sth

ADJ. deep, great, keen, strong, tremendous He felt a deep sense of relief after the phone call. | growing, heightened | slight, vague a vague sense of unease | innate, intuitive, natural a natural sense of justice | moral

VERB + SENSE feel, have | display, show | give sb | lose | heighten, sharpen | dull

PREP. ~ of He seems to have lost his sense of reality.

3 natural ability to do/produce sth well

ADJ. good | bad, poor | innate, intuitive, natural | business, dress He has no dress sense.

VERB + SENSE have

PREP. ~ of a good sense of direction/rhythm/timing

4 ability to think/act in a sensible way

ADJ. good | common, horse Common sense tells me I should get more sleep.

VERB + SENSE have He at least had the sense to call the police. | display, show | learn I wish my daughter would learn some sense.

SENSE + VERB tell sb

PHRASES have more money than sense, (not) an ounce of sense If you had an ounce of sense, you'd never have agreed to help him.

5 reason

ADJ. perfect It all makes perfect sense (= is easy to understand).

VERB + SENSE make | see I tried to make him see sense, but he just wouldn't listen. | talk If you can't talk sense, I'm leaving!

PREP. ~ in There's a lot of sense in what he's saying.

PHRASES talk sense into sb We'll try and talk a little sense into her. | there's no sense in sth There's no sense in going home before the film.

6 your senses: ability to think clearly

VERB + SENSE come to, regain | take leave of Have you taken leave of your senses? | bring sb to

PHRASES in your (right) senses No one in their right senses would give him the job!

7 meaning

ADJ. broad, wide The novel is about education in its widest sense. | narrow, strict | accepted | figurative, metaphorical | literal | pejorative | legal, technical

VERB + SENSE have That word has three senses. | make That sentence doesn't make sense (= has no meaning).

PREP. in a ~ In a sense, she's right.

PHRASES in every sense of the word, in a very real sense In a very real sense, post-war repression was the continuation of the war. | in the true sense of the word

sense verb

ADV. clearly, strongly I sensed quite strongly that she was angry with me. | dimly, vaguely | just Maybe she could just sense what I needed. | intuitively

You can also check other dicts: sense (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition

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