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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

unsense en · NOUN · etymology 1

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- Proto-Indo-European *sent-der. Proto-Italic *sentiō Latin sentiō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin sēnsusbor. Proto-Germanic *sinnaz Frankish *sinnbor. Vulgar Latin *sennus Old French sensbor. Middle English sense English sense English unsense From un- (“absence of, lack of”) + sense.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) Lack or absence of sense; senselessness; nonsense.
    • The capacity to receive and be disposed to (be affected by) sense turns on how a given particular time calls for what makes “unsense, unsense and no-longer-sense” […] 2009, Nancy Diekelmann, John Diekelmann, Schooling Learning Teaching:
    • It is a matter of pressing to the threshold of sense, where unsense is simply the nascent becoming-sense of sense […] 1990, Pat Bigelow, The conning, the cunning of being:
    • Mary-Ann Caws seeks to explicate the term as follows: 'forcene/for-sene - unsensed by genius but not senseless; for unsense has in it the peculiar echo of an incense. . .something is consecrated here. . .sense is not simply lost... it is gravely undone […] 2010, Jones Irwin, Derrida and the Writing of the Body:

unsense en · VERB · etymology 2

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder. Proto-Germanic *anda- Proto-West Germanic *anda- Old English and- Old English on- Middle English on- English un- Proto-Indo-European *sent-der. Proto-Italic *sentiō Latin sentiō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin sēnsusbor. Proto-Germanic *sinnaz Frankish *sinnbor. Vulgar Latin *sennus Old French sensbor. Middle English sense English sense English unsense From un- (“reversal, removal”) + sense. Distant cognate with German entsinnen (“to reflect”).

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To remove or deprive of the senses; cause to be insensible.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
unsensing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
unsensed Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
unsensed Tense=Past lexicographic
unsenses Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic