sensation
Americannoun
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sensations
plural
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the operation or function of the senses; perception or awareness of stimuli through the senses.
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a mental condition or physical feeling resulting from stimulation of a sense organ or from internal bodily change, as cold or pain.
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Physiology. the faculty of perception of stimuli.
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a general feeling not directly attributable to any given stimulus, as discomfort, anxiety, or doubt.
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a mental feeling, especially a state of excited feeling.
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a state of excited feeling or interest caused among a number of persons or throughout a community, as by some rumor or occurrence.
- Synonyms:
- perturbation, commotion, agitation, animation, stimulation, excitement
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a cause of such feeling or interest.
The new Brazilian movie was the sensation of the film festival.
noun
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the power of perceiving through the senses
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a physical condition or experience resulting from the stimulation of one of the sense organs
a sensation of warmth
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a general feeling or awareness
a sensation of fear
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a state of widespread public excitement
his announcement caused a sensation
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anything that causes such a state
your speech was a sensation
Synonym Usage
See sense.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sensation
First recorded in 1605–15; from Medieval Latin sēnsātiōn- (stem of sēnsātiō ), equivalent to Late Latin sēnsāt(us) sensate + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
A sensation is a type of feeling, picked up by one of the five senses. Peppercorns will give you the sensation of a million tiny pinpricks on your tongue. A sensation is something from your senses. If you lose sensation in your feet, they are numb and it's time for you to get up and move around to restore blood flow. You can call something a sensation if it is wonderful and astonishing. Your parents will tell you that you were a sensation in the school play. Everyone will want to go see the special-effects movie that critics are calling a worldwide sensation.
Vocabulary lists containing sensation
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Common Senses: Sent, Sens ("Feel")
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The Cay
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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.
See Examples For:
But we’ve never seen an instant parent quite like Jordan Firstman‘s party promoter Peter in “Club Kid,” the Cannes Film Festival sensation that Firstman impressively directed and wrote for himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
They applied a harmless but uncomfortable heat sensation to the calf, similar to the brief pain someone might experience when accidentally touching a hot stove.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
The judge ruled that the sentence against the former boyfriend of music sensation Rihanna was suspended for a year, meaning Brown will not be imprisoned unless he commits another offence during the period.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
You can easily enjoy it without having read the others, but those who know the novels will savor the sensation of reacquaintance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
A tingling sensation zinged across my shoulders and up my neck.
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
It also receives information about sounds and physical sensations, organizing these signals into maps that align with its visual representation on the opposite side of the brain.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026
Different rooms are said to explore contrasting sensations, with some emphasizing touch, sound or visuals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026
If we rely on AI to narrate our experience—interpret our numbers, synthesize our sensations, assign meaning to our setbacks—we may weaken our own capacity to make sense of it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
The mind learns that disconnecting can allow a person to get space from the sensations, emotions, or experiences that are painful or overwhelming.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
Whatever truths she’d hit on were secondary to the immediate sensations: the headache, the singed throat.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
