sensibility
Americannoun
plural
sensibilities-
capacity for sensation or feeling; responsiveness or susceptibility to sensory stimuli.
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mental susceptibility or responsiveness; quickness and acuteness of apprehension or feeling.
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keen consciousness or appreciation.
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sensibilities, emotional capacities.
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Sometimes sensibilities. liability to feel hurt or offended; sensitive feelings.
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Often sensibilities. capacity for intellectual and aesthetic distinctions, feelings, tastes, etc..
a man of refined sensibilities.
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the property, as in plants or instruments, of being readily affected by external influences.
noun
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the ability to perceive or feel
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(often plural) the capacity for responding to emotion, impression, etc
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(often plural) the capacity for responding to aesthetic stimuli
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mental responsiveness; discernment; awareness
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(usually plural) emotional or moral feelings
cruelty offends most people's sensibilities
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the condition of a plant of being susceptible to external influences, esp attack by parasites
Related Words
Sensibility, susceptibility, sensitiveness, sensitivity refer to capacity to respond to or be affected by something. Sensibility is, particularly, capacity to respond to aesthetic and emotional stimuli: the sensibility of the artist. Susceptibility is the state or quality of being impressionable and responsive, especially to emotional stimuli; in the plural it has much the same meaning as sensibility : a person of keen susceptibilities. Sensitiveness is the state or quality of being sensitive, of having a capacity of sensation and of responding to external stimuli: sensitiveness to light. Sensitivity is a special capability of being sensitive to physiological, chemical action or a tendency to be easily affected by the adverse reactions of others: the sensitivity of a nerve; sensitivity to criticism.
Other Word Forms
- hypersensibility noun
- nonsensibility noun
- unsensibility noun
Etymology
Origin of sensibility
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English sensibilite, from Middle French, from Late Latin sēnsibilitās. See sensible, -ity
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.
Yet in this dense marketplace of ideas, identities and impulse buys, a shared sensibility quickly comes into focus.
From Barron's • Mar. 28, 2026
That may sound too derivative for some, but Sokolov, known for his outlandish Russian-language action-comedies “Why Don’t You Just Die!” and “No Looking Back,” brings a truly wacky sensibility to his first English-language feature.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
It would take another decade — and auteurs on the East Coast — to launch another attack on that sensibility, via films like “Do the Right Thing” and “sex, lies, and videotape.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2026
Gerry’s sensibility is firmly of this world, in which he is determined to take what pleasures he can.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026
I read all the unbanned novels of Nadine Gordimer and learned a great deal about the white liberal sensibility.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
