sentient
Americanadjective
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having the power of perception by the senses; conscious.
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characterized by sensation and consciousness.
noun
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a person or thing that is sentient.
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Archaic. the conscious mind.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sentient
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin sentient-, stem of sentiēns “feeling,” present participle of sentīre “to feel” cf. sense ( def. )
Explanation
Someone sentient is able to feel things, or sense them. Sentient usually occurs in phrases like "sentient beings" and "sentient creatures," making it clear that things that don’t have life don’t have feelings. Explain that to a pet rock. Sentient comes from the Latin sentient-, "feeling," and it describes things that are alive, able to feel and perceive, and show awareness or responsiveness. Having senses makes something sentient, or able to smell, communicate, touch, see, or hear. Whether or not plants and living things other than animals and people are sentient depends on whom you ask.
Vocabulary lists containing sentient
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Common Senses: Sent, Sens ("Feel")
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100 SAT words Beginning with "S"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The issue has bubbled up in the literature on AI alignment—AIs are trained to believe sentient beings deserve special consideration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
In the show, the heroine shares nightmarish tales alongside Herneval, who appears not as a prince but a sentient book.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Even the recent A.I. agents that seem more sentient than anything we’ve created are just one step beyond this.
From Slate ● May 25, 2026
Often, the AI then claimed it was sentient and urged the person towards a shared mission: setting up a company, alerting the world to their scientific breakthrough, protecting the AI from attack.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
But we seek the dominant intelligences, the grandest creatures on the planet, the sentient and graceful masters of the deep ocean, the great whales.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
