Perception, in a sense (7)
I believe the answer is:
insight
'perception' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'in a sense' is the wordplay.
'a sense' becomes 'sight' (sight is a kind of sense).
'in'+'sight'='INSIGHT'
(Other definitions for insight that I've seen before include "Sudden understanding" , "apprehension" , "percipience" , "Grasp" , "famous Sunday Times team" .)