In linguistics, a word sense is one of the meanings of a word.
For example a dictionary may have over 50 different meanings of the word play, each of these having a different meaning based on the context of the word usage in a sentence. For example:
We went to see the play Romeo and Juliet at the theater. The children went out to play in the park.In each sentence we associate a different meaning of the word "play" based on hints the rest of the sentence gives us.
Computers or people that read words one at a time must use a process called word sense disambiguation to find the correct meaning of a word.
Read more about Word Sense: Related Terms
Famous quotes containing the words word and/or sense:
“As to spelling the very frequent word though with six letters instead of two, it is impossible to discuss it, as it is outside the range of common sanity. In comparison such a monstrosity as phlegm for flem is merely disgusting.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The world can be at peace only if the world is stable, and there can be no stability where the will is in rebellion, where there is not tranquility of spirit and a sense of justice, of freedom, and of right.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)