Cense vs. Sense — What's the Difference?
Edited by Tayyaba Rehman — By Urooj Arif — Updated on May 8, 2024
"Cense" refers to periodic tax or rental payments, usually in medieval contexts, whereas "sense" denotes perception or awareness, commonly used in various disciplines.
Difference Between Cense and Sense
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
"Cense" historically refers to a type of tax or rent paid in medieval times, often linked to feudal duties. On the other hand, "sense" is a broad term that refers to the faculties by which the body perceives an external stimulus.
The term "cense" is mostly obsolete and is specifically used in historical or legal contexts to describe economic transactions. Whereas "sense" is universally applicable across contexts, including physical, psychological, and metaphorical meanings.
"Cense" often denotes a fixed obligation, usually in the form of monetary or kind payment as part of feudal agreements. In contrast, "sense" can vary widely, referring to both the physiological processes of perception and the intuitive understanding of concepts.
Understanding "cense" requires historical knowledge about its usage and implications in feudal societies. Conversely, "sense" is a common part of everyday vocabulary, understood and used by people without specialized knowledge.
While "cense" has a very narrow and specialized application, "sense" is crucial in discussions about human experience, from scientific explorations of the senses to philosophical debates about the nature of understanding and perception.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
A tax or rent paid in medieval times
The faculties by which the body perceives external stimuli
Context
Historical, legal
Universal, including physical, psychological
Variability
Fixed, specific terms
Wide-ranging, applicable to various perceptions
Knowledge Requirement
Specialized, historical
Common, everyday understanding
Application
Narrow, specific settings
Broad, including scientific and philosophical discussions
Compare with Definitions
Cense
A periodic obligation under feudal law.
Historical records show that the cense was often paid in grain or livestock.
Sense
The ability to perceive stimuli through any of the body's senses.
She lost her sense of smell after a cold.
Cense
A fixed payment made to a landowner.
The cense was calculated based on the size and productivity of the land.
Sense
Practical or sound judgment.
Common sense tells us to save money for unexpected expenses.
Cense
A medieval term for certain types of tax or rent.
The peasant paid a cense to the lord annually for the land he farmed.
Sense
A feeling or intuition about something.
He had a strong sense that it was going to rain.
Cense
An economic duty in historical feudal systems.
The lord's wealth was largely derived from the cense paid by his tenants.
Sense
The meaning or essence of something.
The sense of her argument was clear to everyone in the room.
Cense
A term used in legal historical contexts to describe a type of feudal rent.
Legal texts from the medieval period often refer to the obligations of cense.
Sense
A way that something can be interpreted.
In one sense, the novel is about freedom.
Cense
To perfume with incense.
Sense
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world and responding to stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain receives signals from the senses, which continuously receive information from the environment, interprets these signals, and causes the body to respond, either chemically or physically.) Although traditionally around five human senses were known (namely sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing), it is now recognized that there are many more.
Cense
To burn incense to.
Sense
A faculty by which the body perceives an external stimulus; one of the faculties of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch
The bear has a keen sense of smell which enables it to hunt at dusk
Cense
To perfume with incense.
Sense
A feeling that something is the case
She had the sense of being a political outsider
You can improve your general health and sense of well-being
Cense
(obsolete) A census.
Sense
A sane and realistic attitude to situations and problems
He earned respect by the good sense he showed at meetings
Cense
(obsolete) A public rate or tax.
Sense
A way in which an expression or a situation can be interpreted; a meaning
It is not clear which sense of the word ‘characters’ is intended in this passage
Cense
(obsolete) condition; rank
Sense
A property (e.g. direction of motion) distinguishing a pair of objects, quantities, effects, etc. which differ only in that each is the reverse of the other
The cord does not become straight, but forms a length of helix in the opposite sense
Cense
A census; - also, a public rate or tax.
Sense
Perceive by a sense or senses
With the first frost, they could sense a change in the days
Cense
Condition; rank.
Sense
(of a machine or similar device) detect
An optical fibre senses a current flowing in a conductor
Cense
To perfume with odors from burning gums and spices.
The Salii sing and cense his altars round.
Sense
Any of the faculties by which stimuli from outside or inside the body are received and felt, as the faculties of hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste, and equilibrium.
Cense
To burn or scatter incense.
Sense
A perception or feeling produced by a stimulus; sensation
A sense of fatigue and hunger.
Cense
Perfume especially with a censer
Sense
Senses The faculties of sensation as means of providing physical gratification and pleasure.
Sense
An intuitive or acquired perception or ability to estimate
A sense of diplomatic timing.
Sense
A capacity to appreciate or understand
A keen sense of humor.
Sense
A vague feeling or presentiment
A sense of impending doom.
Sense
Recognition or perception either through the senses or through the intellect; consciousness
Has no sense of shame.
Sense
Natural understanding or intelligence, especially in practical matters
The boy had sense and knew just what to do when he got lost.
Sense
Often senses The normal ability to think or reason soundly
Have you taken leave of your senses?.
Sense
Something sound or reasonable
There's no sense in waiting three hours.
Sense
A meaning that is conveyed, as in speech or writing; signification
The sense of the criticism is that the proposal has certain risks.
Sense
One of the meanings of a word or phrase
The word set has many senses.
Sense
Judgment; consensus
Sounding out the sense of the electorate on capital punishment.
Sense
Intellectual interpretation, as of the significance of an event or the conclusions reached by a group
I came away from the meeting with the sense that we had resolved all outstanding issues.
Sense
To become aware of; perceive
Organisms able to sense their surroundings.
Sense
To grasp; understand
Sensed that the financial situation would improve.
Sense
To detect automatically
Sense radioactivity.
Sense
(Genetics) Of or relating to the portion of the strand of double-stranded DNA that serves as a template for and is transcribed into RNA.
Sense
Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
Sense
Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
A sense of security
Sense
Sound practical or moral judgment.
It's common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
Sense
The meaning, reason, or value of something.
You don’t make any sense.
Sense
Any particular meaning of a word, among its various meanings.
Word sense disambiguation
The true sense of words or phrases
Sense
A natural appreciation or ability.
A keen musical sense
Sense
(pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
Sense
(semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.
The word set has various senses.
Sense
(mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
Sense
(mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
Sense
(biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.
Sense
To use biological senses: to either see, hear, smell, taste, or feel.
Sense
To instinctively be aware.
She immediately sensed her disdain.
Sense
To comprehend.
Sense
A faculty, possessed by animals, of perceiving external objects by means of impressions made upon certain organs (sensory or sense organs) of the body, or of perceiving changes in the condition of the body; as, the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. See Muscular sense, under Muscular, and Temperature sense, under Temperature.
Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
What surmounts the reachOf human sense I shall delineate.
The traitor Sense recallsThe soaring soul from rest.
Sense
Perception by the sensory organs of the body; sensation; sensibility; feeling.
In a living creature, though never so great, the sense and the affects of any one part of the body instantly make a transcursion through the whole.
Sense
Perception through the intellect; apprehension; recognition; understanding; discernment; appreciation.
This Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover.
High disdain from sense of injured merit.
Sense
Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound, true, or reasonable; rational meaning.
He raves; his words are looseAs heaps of sand, and scattering wide from sense.
Sense
That which is felt or is held as a sentiment, view, or opinion; judgment; notion; opinion.
I speak my private but impartial senseWith freedom.
The municipal council of the city had ceased to speak the sense of the citizens.
Sense
Meaning; import; signification; as, the true sense of words or phrases; the sense of a remark.
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense.
I think 't was in another sense.
Sense
Moral perception or appreciation.
Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no sense of the most friendly offices.
Sense
One of two opposite directions in which a line, surface, or volume, may be supposed to be described by the motion of a point, line, or surface.
Sense
To perceive by the senses; to recognize.
Is he sure that objects are not otherwise sensed by others than they are by him?
Sense
A general conscious awareness;
A sense of security
A sense of happiness
A sense of danger
A sense of self
Sense
The meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted;
The dictionary gave several senses for the word
In the best sense charity is really a duty
The signifier is linked to the signified
Sense
The faculty through which the external world is apprehended;
In the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing
Sense
Sound practical judgment;
I can't see the sense in doing it now
He hasn't got the sense God gave little green apples
Fortunately she had the good sense to run away
Sense
A natural appreciation or ability;
A keen musical sense
A good sense of timing
Sense
Perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles;
He felt the wind
She felt an object brushing her arm
He felt his flesh crawl
She felt the heat when she got out of the car
Sense
Detect some circumstance or entity automatically;
This robot can sense the presence of people in the room
Particle detectors sense ionization
Sense
Become aware of not through the senses but instinctively;
I sense his hostility
Sense
Comprehend;
I sensed the real meaning of his letter
Common Curiosities
What does "cense" mean in historical documents?
It refers to a type of tax or rent paid under feudal law.
How does the meaning of "cense" differ from "sense"?
"Cense" is a specific historical term for a tax, while "sense" relates to perception and understanding.
What is the most common use of "sense" in scientific contexts?
It refers to the physical senses used to perceive external stimuli.
Is "cense" used in modern legal terms?
It is rarely used, except in specific historical or legal analyses.
How is "sense" used in everyday language?
It is used to describe the faculties of perception or a feeling about something.
Can "cense" be applicable in modern contexts?
It is largely obsolete and primarily of interest in historical studies.
How do different cultures interpret the senses?
Cultural interpretations can vary significantly, affecting how senses are understood and valued.
What are the different types of senses?
Human senses include sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
How can someone improve their sense of judgment?
By gaining experience, knowledge, and learning from past mistakes.
Does "cense" have any relevance in today’s economy?
No, it is primarily of historical interest.
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Written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
Edited by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
