Sense

Sense, sens, n. a faculty by which objects are perceived: perception: discernment: understanding: power or soundness of judgment: reason: opinion: conviction: import: immediate consciousness.—ns. Sense′-bod′y, a sense-organ in acalephs supposed to have a visual or an auditory function; Sense′-cap′sule, a receptive chamber for sensory perception, connected with the ear, eye, and nose; Sense′-cen′tre, a centre of sensation.—adj. Sensed, chosen as to sense or meaning.—ns. Sense′-el′ement, an external sensation, as an element of perception; Sense′-fil′ament, a filament having the function of an organ of sense.—adjs. Sense′ful (Spens.), full of sense or meaning, reasonable, judicious, perceptive; Sense′less, without sense: incapable of feeling: wanting sympathy: foolish: unreasonable.—adv. Sense′lessly.—ns. Sense′lessness; Sense′-or′gan, any organ of sense, as the eye, ear, or nose; Sense′-percep′tion, perception by means of the senses; Sense′-rhythm, Hebrew parallelism; Sense′-skel′eton, the framework of a sense-organ; Sensibil′ity, state or quality of being sensible: actual feeling: capacity of feeling: susceptibility: acuteness of feeling: delicacy: mental receptivity.—adj. Sen′sible, capable of being perceived by the senses or by the mind: capable of being affected: easily affected: delicate: intelligent, marked by sense, judicious: cognisant: aware: appreciable: sensitive: amenable to.—n. Sen′sibleness.—adv. Sen′sibly.—adjs Sensifā′cient, producing sensation; Sensif′erous, Sensif′ic, Sensificā′tory; Sensig′enous, giving rise to sensation; Sen′sile, capable of affecting the senses.—ns Sen′sion, the becoming aware of being affected from without in sensation; Sen′sism, sensualism in philosophy; Sen′sist, a sensationalist.—n. Sensitisā′tion.—v.t. Sen′sitise, to render sensitive, to render capable of being acted on by actinic rays of light.—n. Sen′sitiser.—adj. Sen′sitive, having sense or feeling: susceptible to sensations: easily affected: pertaining to, or depending on, sensation.—adv. Sen′sitively.—ns Sen′sitiveness, Sen′sitivity, the state of being sensitive: keen sensibility: the state of being delicately adjusted, as a balance: (chem.) the state of being readily affected by the action of appropriate agents; Sensitom′eter, an apparatus for testing the degrees of sensitiveness of photographic films.—adjs Sensō′rial, pertaining to the sensorium, sensory; Sensoridigest′ive, partaking of digestive functions and those of touch, as the tongue of a vertebrate animal.—ns Sensō′rium, Sen′sory, the organ which receives the impressions made on the senses: the nervous centre to which impressions must be conveyed before they are received: the whole sensory apparatus of the body, the nervous system, &c.—adj. Sen′sual, pertaining to, affecting, or derived from the senses, as distinct from the mind: not intellectual or spiritual: given to the pleasures of sense: voluptuous: lewd: carnal: worldly.—n. Sensualisā′tion.—v.t. Sen′sualise, to make sensual: to debase by carnal gratification.—ns Sen′sualism, sensual indulgence: the doctrine that all our knowledge is derived originally from sensation: the regarding of the gratification of the senses as the highest end; Sen′sualist, one given to sensualism or sensual indulgence: a debauchee: a believer in the doctrine of sensualism.—adj. Sensualist′ic, sensual: teaching the doctrines of sensualism.—n. Sensual′ity, indulgence in sensual pleasures: lewdness.—adv. Sen′sually, in a sensual manner.—ns Sen′sualness; Sen′suism; Sen′suist.—adj. Sen′suous, pertaining to sense: connected with sensible objects: easily affected by the medium of the senses.—adv. Sen′suously.—n. Sen′suousness.—Sensitive flames, flames easily affected by sounds; Sensitive plant, one of certain species of Mimosa—from the peculiar phenomena of irritability which their leaves exhibit when touched or shaken; Sensuous cognition, cognition through the senses.—A sensitive person, one sensitive to mesmeric influence; The senses, or Five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. [Fr.,—L. sensus—sentīre, to feel.]