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I sometimes wonder what it is I was on about...
Definition
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :
Common sense, according to Sir W. Hamilton:
(a) ``The complement of those cognitions or convictions which we receive from
nature, which all men possess in common, and by which they test the truth of knowledge and
the morality of actions.''
(b) ``The faculty of first principles.'' These two are the philosophical
significations.
(c) ``Such ordinary complement of intelligence, that,if a person be deficient
therein, he is accounted mad or foolish.''
(d) When the substantive is emphasized: ``Native practical intelligence, natural
prudence, mother wit, tact in behavior, acuteness in the observation of character, in
contrast to habits of acquired learning or of speculation.''
Common sense.
(a) A supposed sense which was held to be the common bond of all the others. [Obs.]
--Trench.
(b) Sound judgment. See under Sense.
From WordNet (r) 1.6 :
common sense
n : sound practical judgment; "he hasn't got the sense God gave little green
apples" [syn: good sense, gumption, horse sense, sense, mother wit]
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