Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
sixth sense

sixth sense

17 7.6
A natural feeling that tells you things without using sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste
  • noun
  • /sɪksθ sɛns/
translation icon : sexto sentido
  • Some claim to have a sixth sense that warns them of impending danger.
  • develop a sixth sense
  • got a sixth sense
  • kind of sixth sense

That sixth sense was the first sense that could keep you out of danger and keep you surviving in the wild.

Examples

Synonyms

intuition
vssixth sense
127 5.5

A quick feeling that something is true without thinking

is cast as a supposed extra sense that reaches beyond ordinary perception
ESP
vssixth sense
14 8.8

The claimed ability to know things without using the five usual senses

is presented as an inner understanding rather than direct information gathering
clairvoyance
vssixth sense
5 9.8

A claimed ability to know about people, places, or events without using the usual senses

is broader, focusing on inner intuitive understanding not only seeing distant events
second sight
vssixth sense
  • Literature
3 9.9

To see or know things before they happen

is more generally an inner sense of understanding, not limited to foresight
extrasensory perception
vssixth sense
1 8.7

A supposed ability to know things without using the normal senses

frames this as a personal, supposed intuitive sense rather than a technical ability
intuitive feeling
vssixth sense
1 5.1

A quick sense that something is true without thinking

is described as a paranormal or extra form of that instinctive inner sense
E.S.P.
vssixth sense
9.9

A claimed ability to know things without using the normal senses

is the same sense but described as an inner, intuitive type rather than a label

How Intuitive

clairvoyance
5 9.8
sixth sense
17 7.6
intuition
127 5.5
hunch
159 4.7

Surface Forms

sixth sense singular
sixth senses plural

Morphology

sixth + sense

The meaning is directly compositional: 'sixth' signals an additional ordinal beyond the five physical senses and 'sense' denotes perception or intuitive ability, so learners can infer an extra, non-physical perceptual faculty (intuition). This metaphorical extension is common across languages (e.g., Spanish 'sexto sentido', French 'sixième sens') and follows a straightforward logic, making it readily predictable for a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

The noun sixth sense comes from the simple idea of having one extra sense beyond the five normal ones. One popular idea says people used this image of an 'extra' sense for a sudden knowing or warning, so the phrase now means 'a feeling that tells you something without using the five physical senses'.