Definition of Common sense

1. Noun. Sound practical judgment. "Fortunately she had the good sense to run away"

Exact synonyms: Good Sense, Gumption, Horse Sense, Mother Wit, Sense
Generic synonyms: Discernment, Judgement, Judgment, Sagaciousness, Sagacity
Specialized synonyms: Logic, Nous, Road Sense
Derivative terms: Commonsensical, Sense

Definition of Common sense

1. Noun. (obsolete) An internal sense, formerly believed to be the sense by which information from the other five senses is understood and interpreted. ¹

2. Noun. Ordinary sensible understanding; one's basic intelligence which allows for plain understanding and without which good decisions or judgments cannot be made. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Common Sense

common ringlets
common room
common rooms
common rorqual
common rose mallow
common roundworm
common rush
common sage
common salt
common scold
common scoter
common seal
common sedge
common sedges
common sense (current term)
common shares
common shiner
common shrew
common sickle pine
common snapping turtle
common snipe
common snipes
common snowberry
common soldier
common sorrel
common speedwell
common spindle tree
common spoonbill
common spotted orchid

Literary usage of Common sense

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association by American philological association (1897)
"On Officers for 1897-98: Professors March, Harrington, and Elwell. 4. Aristotle's Doctrine of the Central or common sense ..."

2. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation by Jeremy Bentham (1879)
"sense teaches him what is right and wrong, as surely as the other's moral sense did : meaning by common sense, a sense of some kind or other, which, ..."

3. The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors by Charles Wells Moulton (1902)
"A few weeks after, Paine's "common sense" appeared, and passed through the continent like an electric spark. It everywhere flashed conviction; and aroused a ..."

4. History of English Thought in the Eighteenth Century by Leslie Stephen (1902)
"If Reid appeals to common sense, using the phrase with a philosophical meaning, ... An appeal to common sense was dangerous when common sense was the ..."

5. The Contemporary Review (1872)
"TITEN rarely ask," says Dr. Reid, " what common sense is ; because -"-*- every man believes himself possessed of it, and would take it for an imputation ..."

6. The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the by Charles George Herbermann (1908)
"It is the second of these meanings that is implied in the philosophy of common sense—a meaning well expressed by Fénelon when he identifies common sense ..."

7. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James (1902)
"common sense is less sweeping in its demands than philosophy or mysticism have been wont to be, and can suffer the notion of this world being partly saved ..."

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