insensible
Americanadjective
-
incapable of feeling or perceiving; deprived of sensation; unconscious, as a person after a violent blow.
-
without or not subject to a particular feeling or sensation.
insensible to shame; insensible to the cold.
-
unaware; unconscious; inappreciative.
We are not insensible of your kindness.
-
not perceptible by the senses; imperceptible.
insensible transitions.
-
unresponsive in feeling.
- Synonyms:
- torpid, emotionless, passionless, dull, cool, indifferent, unfeeling, apathetic
-
not susceptible of emotion or passion; void of any feeling.
- Synonyms:
- cool, indifferent, unfeeling, apathetic, torpid, emotionless, passionless, dull
-
not endowed with feeling or sensation, as matter; inanimate.
adjective
-
lacking sensation or consciousness
-
unaware (of) or indifferent (to)
insensible to suffering
-
thoughtless or callous
-
a less common word for imperceptible
Synonym Usage
See indifference.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of insensible
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word insēnsibilis. See in- 3, sensible
Explanation
The adjective insensible is used to describe someone who is unconscious. If you keep your bowling ball on the top shelf of the closet and it rolls out and conks you on the head, you will probably be rendered insensible. The adjective insensible describes a lack of emotional response or being indifferent. If your friend says that the roller coaster was so scary it nearly made him vomit and you shrug and say, "Eh, it was okay," he may think you are insensible to fear. A lack of physical sensation can also be described as insensible. If your nerve endings are not acute and you don't feel much pain, you are insensible to pain. This can be dangerous, though, because you might not notice if you get hurt skateboarding.
Vocabulary lists containing insensible
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 7
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 3
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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.
I call this process catastrophic gradualism: the small, almost insensible accumulation of evils, fairly minor in their individual character, but which when considered whole, inspire a pervasive feeling of dread.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2025
Butkus’s image was a metaphor for what pro football players had become over 50 years: preternatural creatures, cold, insensible to hurt.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 24, 2020
The car is a dark conglomerate of metal, glass, and plastic, as inanimate and insensible as a stone.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2019
A week later, the telegraph lines clattered with news of Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theatre in Washington and the chilling way it was put into words by Stanton: “The president continues insensible and is sinking.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2016
He was insensible of his own name and where he was.
From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
