Sensation

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sÉ›nseɪʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Origin

From Old French, from Medieval Latin sensatio, from Latin sensus.

Full definition of sensation

Noun

1. A physical feeling or perception from something that comes into contact with the body; something sensed.
• 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
• 1921, Bertrand Russell, S:The Analysis of Mind/Lecture VI, Confining ourselves, for the moment, to sensations, we find that there are different degrees of publicity attaching to different sorts of sensations. If you feel a toothache when the other people in the room do not, you are in no way surprised; but if you hear a clap of thunder when they do not, you begin to be alarmed as to your mental condition.
2. A widespread reaction of interest or excitement.
• 1905, w, w:The Case of Miss Elliott Chapter 2, “Two or three months more went by ; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. â€¦â€
• 1937, H. P. Lovecraft, S:The Thing on the Doorstep, Young Derby's odd genius developed remarkably, and in his eighteenth year his collected nightmare-lyrics made a real sensation when issued under the title Azathoth and Other Horrors.

Hyponyms

Related terms

• sensational
• sense
• sensible
• sensitive
• sensory
• sensual

Anagrams

• Estonians