sensibility

[ sen-suh-bil-i-tee ]

noun

, plural sen·si·bil·i·ties.

1. capacity for sensation or feeling; responsiveness or susceptibility to sensory stimuli.
2. mental susceptibility or responsiveness; quickness and acuteness of apprehension or feeling.

   Synonyms: awareness, alertness

3. keen consciousness or appreciation.
4. sensibilities, emotional capacities.
5. Sometimes sensibilities. liability to feel hurt or offended; sensitive feelings.
6. Often sensibilities. capacity for intellectual and aesthetic distinctions, feelings, tastes, etc.:

   a man of refined sensibilities.

7. the property, as in plants or instruments, of being readily affected by external influences.

sensibility

/ ˌsɛnsɪˈbɪlɪtɪ /

noun

1. the ability to perceive or feel
2. often plural the capacity for responding to emotion, impression, etc
3. often plural the capacity for responding to aesthetic stimuli
4. mental responsiveness; discernment; awareness
5. usually plural emotional or moral feelings

   cruelty offends most people's sensibilities

6. the condition of a plant of being susceptible to external influences, esp attack by parasites

Other Words From

• hyper·sensi·bili·ty noun
• nonsen·si·bili·ty noun plural nonsensibilities
• unsen·si·bili·ty noun plural unsensibilities

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensibility¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English sensibilite, from Middle French, from Late Latin sēnsibilitās. See sensible, -ity

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

By mixing cultural foodways with modern sensibilities, we can feel good about having a sustainable holiday feast.

From Popular-Science

I was just, my sensibilities are just offended by its very existence.

From MIT Technology Review

Vallely said the original philanthropists, such as 18th-century prison reformer John Howard, functioned under the “cult of sensibility.”

From Washington Post

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat does just that—it teaches you how to cook, the science of what makes food taste good, and how to gain your own flavor sensibilities and confidence in the kitchen.

From Popular-Science

It helps me have a sensibility,This is how I feel my ancestry speaks, through food and especially through cacao.

From Eater

He stayed up all night, looking at the streets he had biked around as a kid with a whole new sensibility.

From The Daily Beast

Lyricist E. Y. “Yip” Harburg was as provocative as Hammerstein, though with a much less earnest, more whimsical sensibility.

From The Daily Beast

Hitchcock's sensibility was being shaped by the German Expressionist masters.

From The Daily Beast

I do feel there is a gay sensibility in everything I do, including the Twilight movies.

From The Daily Beast

As he debuts on Broadway, he talks Beyoncé, Kristen Stewart, Benedict Cumberbatch, and the ‘gay sensibility’ in all he does.

From The Daily Beast

It represents an engaging personality, in which vivacity and sensibility are distinctly indicated.

From Project Gutenberg

No one with even an ordinary share of sensibility can witness a ceremony involving such consequences without the deepest emotion.

From Project Gutenberg

She was delighted with these indications of gratitude and sensibility on the part of the unenlightened and lowly peasantry.

From Project Gutenberg

What an agitation, and at the same time what an unhealthy stimulus to his over-sensibility!

From Project Gutenberg

In this change of attitude his artistic sensibility unquestionably played a part.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• affection
• emotion
• feeling
• insight
• sense
• sensitivity
• sentiment
• taste