Sensible

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈsensÉ™bl/

Origin

From Latin sensibilis ("perceptible by the senses, having feeling, sensible"), from sentire ("to feel, perceive"), past participle sensus.

Full definition of sensible

Adjective

1. (now dated or formal) Perceptible by the senses.
• ArbuthnotAir is sensible to the touch by its motion.
• 1778, William Lewis, The New Dispensatory (page 91)The sensible qualities of argentina promise no great virtue of this kind; for to the taste it discovers only a slight roughishness, from whence it may be presumed to be entitled to a place only among the milder corroborants.
• 1902, William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Folio Society 2008, p. 45:It has been vouchsafed, for example, to very few Christian believers to have had a sensible vision of their Saviour.
2. Easily perceived; appreciable.
• Sir W. TempleThe disgrace was more sensible than the pain.
• Adam SmithThe discovery of the mines of America ... does not seem to have had any very sensible effect upon the prices of things in England.
3. (archaic) Able to feel or perceive.
• ShakespeareWould your cambric were sensible as your finger.
4. (archaic) Liable to external impression; easily affected; sensitive.a sensible thermometer
• Shakespearewith affection wondrous sensible
5. Of or pertaining to the senses; sensory.
6. (archaic) Cognizant; having the perception of something; aware of something.
• John LockeHe cannot think at any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it.
• AddisonThey are now sensible it would have been better to comply than to refuse.
7. Acting with or showing good sense; able to make good judgements based on reason.
• 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. .They ask questions of someone who thinks he's got something sensible to say on some matter when actually he hasn't.
8. Characterized more by usefulness or practicality than by fashionableness, especially of clothing.
• 1999, Neil Gaiman, Stardust (2001 Perennial Edition), p. 8,They would walk, on fair evenings, around the village, and discuss the theory of crop rotation, and the weather, and other such sensible matters.

Usage notes

"Sensible" describes the reasonable way in which a person may think about things or do things:

It wouldn't be sensible to start all over again now.

"Sensitive" describes an emotional way in which a person may react to things:

He has always been a sensitive child.

I didn’t realize she was so sensitive about her work.

Related terms

• sense
• sensory
• sensual
• sensuous
• supersensible

Noun

1. (obsolete) sensation; sensibility.
• MiltonOur temper changed ... which must needs remove the sensible of pain.
2. (obsolete) That which impresses itself on the senses; anything perceptible.
• Krauth-FlemingAristotle distinguished sensibles into common and proper.
3. (obsolete) That which has sensibility; a sensitive being.
• BurtonThis melancholy extends itself not to men only, but even to vegetals and sensibles.