sentient

American  

[sen-shuhnt, ‐shee-uhnt, ‐tee-uhnt] / ˈsɛn ʃənt, ‐ʃi ənt, ‐ti ənt /

adjective

1. having the power of perception by the senses; conscious.

2. characterized by sensation and consciousness.

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noun

1. a person or thing that is sentient.

2. Archaic. the conscious mind.

sentient British  

/ ˈsɛntɪənt /

adjective

1. having the power of sense perception or sensation; conscious

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noun

1. rare a sentient person or thing

Other Word Forms

• nonsentient adjective
• nonsentiently adverb
• sentiently adverb
• unsentient adjective
• unsentiently adverb

Etymology

Origin of sentient

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin sentient-, stem of sentiēns “feeling,” present participle of sentīre “to feel” sense ( def. )

Example Sentences

“I’m not! And it’d be one thing if the badger were good company. But Captain, even though you’re incapable of sentient thought or speech, you make for better conversation than that squashed skunk.”

From Literature

Researchers say the way to help humanity escape the Turing Trap is to make sure that chatbots don’t communicate as if they were sentient.

From The Wall Street Journal

Grace will eventually make an alien friend, a five-limbed spider-shaped sentient rock he names Rocky.

From Los Angeles Times

I don’t see why any sentient person would watch one of these things unless they had to, or enjoyed pain.

From MarketWatch

“This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI’s mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!”

From Barron's