sensualism

American  

[sen-shoo-uh-liz-uhm] / ˈsɛn ʃu əˌlɪz əm /

noun

1. subjection to sensual appetites; sensuality.

2. Philosophy. sensationalism.

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sensualism British  

/ ˈsɛnsjʊəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. the quality or state of being sensual

2. another word for sensationalism sensationalism

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Other Word Forms

• hypersensualism noun

Etymology

Origin of sensualism

First recorded in 1795–1805; sensual + -ism

Example Sentences

Hung, a French Vietnamese filmmaker whose eye for cinematic sensualism was on display in early works like “The Scent of Green Papaya” and “Cyclo,” here achieves something of a culinary contact high.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2023

Miserablism and sensualism pair elegantly in this collaboration between FKA twigs and the Weeknd.

From New York Times • Dec. 17, 2021

The question of spiritual discipline has long been present in his writing: self-denial versus sensualism, the path of Jesus versus that of Byron.

From The Guardian • Feb. 27, 2013

And not even in Tacitus or Suetonius are to be found more ghastly revelations of a putrescent society, and the ennui and self-loathing which capricious sensualism generates in spirits born for something higher.

From Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius by Dill, Samuel

Asceticism is, after all, mainly a reversed sensualism, or at least confesses the existence of a sensualism that must not be allowed expression lest its manifestation becomes overpowering.

From Religion & Sex Studies in the Pathology of Religious Development by Cohen, Chapman