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sensibility

[ sen-suh-bil-i-tee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

plural sensibilities.

capacity for sensation or feeling; responsiveness or susceptibility to sensory stimuli.
mental susceptibility or responsiveness; quickness and acuteness of apprehension or feeling.
Synonyms: ,
keen consciousness or appreciation.
sensibilities, emotional capacities.
Sometimes sensibilities. liability to feel hurt or offended; sensitive feelings.
Often sensibilities. capacity for intellectual and aesthetic distinctions, feelings, tastes, etc.:
a man of refined sensibilities.
the property, as in plants or instruments, of being readily affected by external influences.

sensibility

/ ˌ��ɛ�Բ�ɪˈ��ɪ��ɪ��ɪ /

noun

the ability to perceive or feel
often plural the capacity for responding to emotion, impression, etc
often plural the capacity for responding to aesthetic stimuli
mental responsiveness; discernment; awareness
usually plural emotional or moral feelings
cruelty offends most people's sensibilities
the condition of a plant of being susceptible to external influences, esp attack by parasites

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Other Word Forms

��p��·��ȴ��·��i·�ٲ� noun
�Դǲ��ȴ��·��·��i·�ٲ� noun plural nonsensibilities
�ܲ��ȴ��·��·��i·�ٲ� noun plural unsensibilities

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Word History and Origins

Origin of sensibility¹

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

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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.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Director David Cromer, whose sensibility gravitates between stark and dark, endows the staging with macabre elegance.

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As if the very notion of treating vegetables in this way was an affront to his Italian sensibilities.

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He brings the same sensibility to his one-man shows.

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Nowadays, Thewlis’ return to something approximating our old-fashioned picture of Holmes reminds us of sensibility’s valiance in a world given to absurdity and madness.

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The narrator, a reader with siblings and a penchant for run-on sentences, brings a modernist sensibility to the texture of her daily life.

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Related Words

sensibilia sensible

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