SYNONYMS | EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN
adjective perceived by or affecting the senses : the sensuous qualities of music. readily affected through the senses : a sensuous temperament. of or relating to sensible objects or to the senses . Origin of sensuous 1630–40; <
Latin sēnsu(s )
sense +
-ous Related forms sen·su·ous·ly , adverb sen·su·ous·ness , sen·su·os·i·ty [sen-shoo-os -i-tee] /ˌsɛn ʃuˈɒs ɪ ti/ noun an·ti·sen·su·ous , adjective an·ti·sen·su·ous·ly , adverb an·ti·sen·su·ous·ness , noun hy·per·sen·su·ous , adjective hy·per·sen·su·ous·ly , adverb hy·per·sen·su·ous·ness , noun non·sen·su·ous , adjective non·sen·su·ous·ly , adverb non·sen·su·ous·ness , noun sub·sen·su·ous , adjective sub·sen·su·ous·ly , adverb sub·sen·su·ous·ness , noun su·per·sen·su·ous , adjective su·per·sen·su·ous·ly , adverb su·per·sen·su·ous·ness , noun un·sen·su·ous , adjective un·sen·su·ous·ly , adverb un·sen·su·ous·ness , noun Synonyms for sensuous 1 . See
sensual .
2 . feeling, sensible.
3 . sentient.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for sensuously Historical Examples of sensuously Now whether this completeness is sensuously possible, is a problem.
She had not believed it could seem so beautiful, so magnificent, so sensuously seductive.
Dupont's voice was a tenor, not powerful, but deliciously, sensuously sweet.
And all around her are women of the same type, exotic products of a society highly artificial, sensuously material.
As a healthy and sensuously vigorous man he felt a voluptuous satisfaction in clasping actual nature in his herculean arms.
British Dictionary definitions for sensuously adjective aesthetically pleasing to the senses
appreciative of or moved by qualities perceived by the senses
of, relating to, or derived from the senses
Show More
Derived Forms sensuously , adverb sensuousness , noun Word Origin for sensuous C17: apparently coined by Milton to avoid the unwanted overtones of sensual ; not in common use until C19: from Latin sēnsus sense + -ous
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sensuously adj. 1640s, "pertaining to the senses" apparently coined by Milton to recover the original meaning of sensual and avoid the lascivious connotation that the older word had acquired, but by 1870 sensuous , too, had begun down the same path and come to mean "alive to the pleasures of the senses." Rare before Coleridge popularized it "To express in one word all that appertains to the perception, considered as passive and merely recipient ...." (1814). From Latin sensus (see sense (n.)) + -ous . Related: Sensuously ; sensuousness .
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
