sensible

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Acting with or showing good sense

   Acting with or showing good sense; able to make good judgements based on reason or wisdom, or reflecting such ability.

   • They ask questions of someone who thinks he's got something sensible to say on some matter when actually he hasn't.
2. 2

   Characterized more by usefulness, practicality, or comfort than by attractiveness,…

   Characterized more by usefulness, practicality, or comfort than by attractiveness, formality, or fashionableness, especially of clothing.

   • I only wear high heels on formal occasions; otherwise, I prefer sensible shoes.
   • “Delightful vision! A comfortable armchair, situated in three different draughts, at every ballroom; and nice, large, sensible shoes for all the couples to stumble over as they go into the veranda!”
   • She was a pleasant-looking woman of about forty, with a deep voice, almost manly in its stentorian tones, and had a large sensible square body, with feet to match—these last encased in good thick boots.
3. 3

   Able to be sensed by the senses or the psyche

   Able to be sensed by the senses or the psyche; able to be perceived.

   • For Plato the belief in sensible objects is fallible.
   • Air is sensible to the Touch by its Motion, and by its Resistance to Bodies moved in it.
   • 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.
4. ›+ 7 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Able to feel or perceive.

      • Would your cambric were sensible as your finger.
   2. 5

      Liable to external impression

      Liable to external impression; easily affected; sensitive.

      • a sensible thermometer
      • with affection wondrous sensible
   3. 6

      Of or pertaining to the senses

      Of or pertaining to the senses; sensory.

   4. 7

      Cognizant

      Cognizant; having the perception of something; aware of something.

      • He cannot think at any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it.
      • A bright Meſſenger from Heaven, made the Man of GOD ſenſible, That a Remarkable Safety ſhould be granted unto him, and therefore unto all the Company vvith Him.
   5. 8

      Sensation

      Sensation; sensibility.

      • Our temper changed […] which must needs remove the sensible of pain.
   6. 9

      That which impresses itself on the senses

      That which impresses itself on the senses; anything perceptible.

      • Aristotle distinguished sensibles into common and proper.
   7. 10

      That which has sensibility

      That which has sensibility; a sensitive being.

      • This melancholy extends itself not to men only, but even to vegetals and sensibles.

The neighborhood

• neighborsense
• neighborsensitive
• neighborsensory
• neighborsensual
• neighborsensuous
• neighborsupersensible