Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Sensibility |
SensibilityNoun1. Mental responsiveness and awareness. 2. Refined sensitivity to pleasurable or painful impressions; "cruelty offended his sensibility". 3. (physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli: "sensitivity to pain". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sensibility" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1613. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Aerospace | In measurements, the smallest change that is reliably detectable. (references) |
Health | The ability to receive, feel and appreciate sensations and impressions; the quality of being sensitive; the extend to which a method gives results that are free from false negatives. (references) |
Medicine | Sensibility:the ability to receive, feel and appreciate sensations and impressions; sensitivity:1)the quality of being sensitive;2)the extend to which a method gives results that are free from false negatives. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: SensibilitySynonyms: sensitiveness (n), sensitivity (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: insensibility (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Physical Sensibility | Noun: sensibility; sensitiveness. Adjective: physical sensibility, feeling, impressibility, perceptivity, aesthetics; moral sensibility . |
Sensibility | Noun: sensibility, sensibleness, sensitiveness; moral sensibility; impressibility, affectibility; susceptibleness, susceptibility, susceptivity; mobility; vivacity, vivaciousness; tenderness, softness; sentimental, sentimentality; sentimentalism. |
Excitability; fastidiousness; physical sensibility. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Sensibility |
| English words defined with "sensibility": Abirritate ♦ beastly, Benthamism, bestial, brute, brutish ♦ Coenesthesis, Condensing electroscope, crass ♦ Diaphemetric, dull ♦ Electro-muscular, Esthesiometer ♦ Hyperaesthesia ♦ impassive, Inapathy, inartistic, insensibility, insensitive ♦ Magnetic susceptibility, Monopathy, Muscular sense ♦ Nervous fever ♦ Obtunder ♦ Passibility, Photographometer ♦ Recurrent sensibility ♦ Sensibilities, sensitive, Sensive, stolid ♦ Tender-hearted, Thickskin, torpidity, torpor ♦ unartistic ♦ withers. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "sensibility": Analgesia, Obstetrical ♦ Heart, hyperalgesia ♦ loss of sensibility ♦ motor sensibility ♦ sensibility analysis ♦ thermoanaesthesia. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "sensibility": Sensive. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Sense and Sensibility (1971) Sensibility and Sense (1990) Sense and Sensibility (1985) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Baudelaire | Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility. |
Charles Maurice De Talleyrand | Too much sensibility creates unhappiness and too much insensibility creates crime. |
Remy De Gourmont | We live less and less, and we learn more and more. Sensibility is surrendering to intelligence. |
William T. Sherman | Courage -- a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it. |
| I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it. | |
Witold Lutoslawski | People whose sensibility is destroyed by music in trains, airports, lifts, cannot concentrate on a Beethoven Quartet. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He felt the mysterious quiver of every latent sensibility. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | HEART, n. An automatic, muscular blood-pump. Figuratively, this useful organ is said to be the esat of emotions and sentiments -- a very pretty fancy which, however, is nothing but a survival of a once universal belief. It is now known that the sentiments and emotions reside in the stomach, being evolved from food by chemical action of the gastric fluid. The exact process by which a beefsteak becomes a feeling -- tender or not, according to the age of the animal from which it was cut; the successive stages of elaboration through which a caviar sandwich is transmuted to a quaint fancy and reappears as a pungent epigram; the marvelous functional methods of converting a hard-boiled egg into religious contrition, or a cream-puff into a sigh of sensibility -- these things have been patiently ascertained by M. Pasteur, and by him expounded with convincing lucidity. (See, also, my monograph, The Essential Identity of the Spiritual Affections and Certain Intestinal Gases Freed in Digestion -- 4to, 687 pp.) In a scientific work entitled, I believe, Delectatio Demonorum (John Camden Hotton, London, 1873) this view of the sentiments receives a striking illustration; and for further light consult Professor Dam's famous treatise on Love as a Product of Alimentary Maceration. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | In closing this communication I ought not to repress a sensibility, in which you will unite, to the happy lot of our country and to the goodness of a superintending Providence, to which we are indebted for it. |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | My sensibility is increased by a just estimate of the importance of the trust and of the nature and extent of its duties, with the proper discharge of which the highest interests of a great and free people are intimately connected. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Sensibility" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.61% of the time. "Sensibility" is used about 257 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.61% | 256 | 18,500 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.39% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 257 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "sensibility": loss of sensibility ♦ moral sensibility ♦ motor sensibility ♦ physical sensibility ♦ recurrent sensibility ♦ sensibility analysis. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "sensibility": over-sensibility. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "sensibility"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | sedër (self respect, touchiness), saktësi (accuracy, definition, elaboration, exactitude, exactness, justness, minuteness, nicety, preciseness, precision, soundness, veracity), ndjeshmëri (delicacy, empathy, eroticism, feeling, sensitivity, sensuality, sentience, susceptibility, tenderness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | وعي (awareness, consciousness, realization), حساسية (allergy, impressionability, sensibilities, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sentimentality, susceptibility, vulnerability), إحساس (emotion, feel, feeling, sensation, sense), إدراك (appreciation, apprehension, cognizance, comprehension, conception, grasp, intelligence, knowledge, maturity, puberty, pubescence, realization, reason, recognition, responsiveness, savvy, science, sense, senses, sensibilities, smart, understanding). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | усещане (feel, feeling, perception, prehension, sensation, sense), усет (eye, feel, feeling, flair, good sense, nose, prehension, sense), чувствителност (impressionability, irritability, pickup, sensitivity, sentience, soreness, susceptibility, tenderness), остра чувствителност, прекалена чувствителност. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 感觉 (Feeling, feelings, sensation, sense, sensed, Sensibilities, sensing, sensorial), 感性 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | citlivost (delicacy, sensitiveness, sensitivity, soreness, susceptibility, tenderness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | sensibilitet (sensitivity). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | sensibiliteit (sensitivity), sensibilitas (sensitivity), gevoeligheid (resolution, sensitivities, sensitivity, sensitivity of a measuring assembly, sensitivity of a measuring instrument, sentiment, susceptibility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | هش (Shush), حساسیت (Friction, Sensitivity), احساس ودرک . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | herkkätunteisuus. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | sensibilité (sensibilities, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sensitivity coefficient, sensitivity of a measuring assembly, sensitivity of a measuring instrument). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Sensibilität (sensitiveness, sensitivity), Empfindlichkeit (brittleness, delicateness, huffiness, pettishness, response, scale factor, screen film sensitivity, selectivity, sensitiveness, sensitivities, sensitivity, sensitivity of a measuring assembly, sharpness, speed, susceptibility, tenderness, touchiness, vulnerability). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ευαισθησία (delicacy, impressionability, mushiness, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sensitivity of a measuring instrument, susceptibility, ticklishness), αισθηματικότησ (sensuousness, sentimentalism, sentimentality), αισθηματικότητα (sensuousness, sentimentalism, sentimentality), αισθητικότησ (sensitiveness, sentience), αισθητικότητα (sensitiveness, sentience). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | חישו ות, כושר "חיש", ר'ישות (excitability, sensitivity, squeamishness, susceptibility, thin skin, touchiness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | fogékonyság (aptitude, docility, impulsiveness, predisposition, receptiveness, receptivity, responsiveness, susceptibility, suspectability), érzékenység (irritableness, penetrability, rawness, receptiveness, receptivity, responsiveness, sensitivity, sentiment, soreness, susceptibility, suspectability, tenderness, touchiness), érzék (conscience, feel, sense, talent, taste). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | merasakan (feel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | sensibilit (direction, feel, feeling, sense, sensitiveness, sensitivities, sensitivity, sensitivity of a measuring assembly, speed). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 敏感 (sensitive, susceptibility, well attuned to). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | たじょうた"" (going through life with one's heart on one's sleeve), び"か" (sensitive, susceptibility, well attuned to). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 감각 (Sensibilities). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | ennaghtyn (atmosphere, experience, feel, feeling, gratitude, noble sentiments, perceive, realization, sensation, sense, sympathy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ensibilitysay sensibilidade (delicacy, esthesis, esthete, feeling, resolution, response, sensation, sense, sensitivity, sensitivity of a measuring assembly, sensitivity of a measuring instrument, sentiment, susceptibility, tenderness). (various references) susceptibilitate (feeling, huffiness, huffishness, sensitiveness, sensitivity, susceptibility, ticklishness), sensibilitate (delicacy, responsiveness, sensitiveness, sensitivity, tenderness), emotivitate (emotiveness, emotivity, excitability). (various references) чувствительность (pathos, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sentience, soreness, susceptiveness). (various references) osetljivost (delicacy, disincentive, perceptibility, sensitivity, soreness, susceptibilities, susceptibility, toughness), osećajnost (sensitivity). (various references) sensibilidad (amenability, esthesia, esthesis, perception, resolution, response, responsiveness, sensitiveness, sensitivities, sensitivity, sensitivity of a measuring assembly, sentiment, touchiness). (various references) sensibilitet (sensitiveness), mottaglighet (liability, predisposition, sensitiveness), känslighet (delicacy, impressibility, impressionability, sensitivity, sensitivity of a measuring assembly, sensitivity of a measuring instrument, speed, susceptibility), ömtålighet (delicacy, fragility, perishability). (various references) içlilik, hassaslık (delicacy, emotionality, passibility, quickness, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sentiment, squeamishness, susceptibility, tenderness), duygusallık (emotionality, romanticism, sensuality, sensuousness, sentiment), duygululuk (sentience), duyarlılık (delicacy, emotionality, sensitiveness, sensitivity, sentience, sentiment, sentimentality, susceptibility, touch), anlayış (apprehension, cognizance, comprehension, discernment, horizon, intelligence, mentality, percipience, sagacity, savvy, understanding), alınganlık (pettishness, petulance, sensitiveness, sensitivity, squeamishness, stuffiness, susceptibility, testiness, touchiness), önsezi yeteneği. (various references) сприйнятливість (apprehension, open mindedness, perceptivity, receptivity, recipience, recipiency, susceptibility), чутливість (feeling, hokum, impressionability, responsiveness, sensitiveness, sensitivity, soreness, susceptibility, tenderness), точність (accuracy, appropriateness, correctness, exactitude, exactness, explicitness, fidelity, justness, nicety, preciseness, precision, rigor, rigour, scrupulosity, veracity). (various references) tri giác, cảm giác tính đa cảm. (various references) teimladrwydd (feelingness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "sensibility": insensibility. (additional references) | |
| |
"Sensibility" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: sensability, sensebility, sensibilit, sensibilite, sensiblility. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sensibility" (pronounced se'nsubi"lutē) |
| 10 | -e' n s u b i" l u t ē | comprehensibility. |
| 9 | -n s u b i" l u t ē | invincibility, irresponsibility, responsibility. |
| 8 | -s u b i" l u t ē | accessibility, admissibility, disability, enforceability, flexibility, impossibility, inaccessibility, inflexibility, miscibility, possibility. |
| 7 | -u b i" l u t ē | ability, acceptability, adaptability, advisability, affordability, amiability, applicability, availability, believability, capability, comparability, compatibility, convertibility, credibility, culpability, debility, deductibility, deniability, dependability, desirability, durability, electability, eligibility, fallibility, feasibility, flammability, gullibility, inability, incompatibility, indestructibility, inevitability, infallibility, instability, invisibility, invulnerability, irritability, legibility, liability, malleability, maneuverability, marketability, palatability, permeability, plausibility, portability, predictability, probability, profitability, readability, reliability, respectability, stability, suitability, survivability, susceptibility, sustainability, transferability, unavailability, unpredictability, unreliability, variability, viability, visibility, vulnerability. |
| 6 | -b i" l u t ē | immobility, mobility, nobility. |
| 5 | -i" l u t ē | agility, civility, docility, ductility, facility, fertility, fragility, futility, gentility, hostility, humility, incivility, infertility, motility, nonutility, senility, sterility, tranquility, utility, versatility, virility, volatility. |
| 4 | -l u t ē | abnormality, accountability, actuality, banality, bestiality, bisexuality, brutality, causality, centrality, collegiality, commonality, conditionality, confidentiality, congeniality, constitutionality, credulity, criminality, criticality, cyclicality, dimensionality, duality, equality, eventuality, extraterritoriality, fatality, fidelity, finality, formality, frivolity, frugality, functionality, generality, geniality, heterosexuality, homosexuality, hospitality, illegality, immorality, immortality, impartiality, impersonality, incredulity, individuality, inequality, infidelity, informality, instrumentality, irrationality, legality, lethality, liberality, locality, materiality, mentality, modality, morality, mortality, municipality, musicality, mutuality, nationality, neutrality, normality, originality, partiality, personality, plurality, polity, practicality, principality, proportionality, punctuality, quality, rationality, reality, seasonality, sensuality, sentimentality, sexuality, speciality, spirituality, technicality, theatricality, tonality, totality, triviality, universality, unreality, venality, vitality. |
| 3 | -u t ē | absurdity, acidity, activity, acuity, adversity, affinity, aggressivity, alacrity, alkalinity, ambiguity, amenity, amity, analyticity, animosity, annuity, anonymity, antiquity, anxiety, atrocity, audacity, austerity, authenticity, authority, barbarity, biodiversity, brevity, calamity, capacity, captivity, cavity, celebrity, charity, chastity, clarity, commodity, community, complexity, complicity, conductivity, conformity, congruity, connectivity, continuity, creativity, crotchety, curiosity, deformity, deity, density, depravity, deputy, dexterity, dignity, discontinuity, disparity, dissimilarity, disunity, diversity, divinity, domesticity, duplicity, eccentricity, elasticity, electricity, enmity, enormity, entity, equanimity, equity, eternity, ethnicity, exclusivity, expressivity, extremity, falsity, familiarity, Felicity, femininity, ferocity, festivity, fluidity, fraternity, generosity, gratuity, gravity, heredity, heterogeneity, hilarity, homogeneity, humanity, humidity, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity, identity, illiquidity, immaturity, immunity, impropriety, impunity, impurity, inactivity, incapacity, incongruity, indemnity, indignity, inequity, inferiority, infinity, infirmity, ingenuity, inhumanity, insanity, insecurity, insensitivity, insularity, integrity, intensity, irregularity, laity, laxity, levity, liquidity, lividity, longevity, majority, masculinity, maternity, maturity, mediocrity, mendacity, minority, modernity, monstrosity, morbidity, multiplicity, nativity, necessity, negativity, Nonconformity, nonentity, notoriety, nudity, obesity, objectivity, obscenity, obscurity, oddity, opacity, opportunity, overcapacity, oversensitivity, parity, particularity, passivity, paternity, paucity, peculiarity, perpetuity, perplexity, perversity, piety, polarity, pomposity, popularity, posterity, priority, probity, proclivity, productivity, profanity, progressivity, promiscuity, propensity, propriety, prosperity, proximity, publicity, purity, quantity, radioactivity, rapidity, rarity, reactivity, receptivity, reciprocity, reflexivity, regularity, relativity, religiosity, retroactivity, rickety, rigidity, salinity, sanctity, sanity, scarcity, security, selectivity, seniority, sensitivity, serendipity, serenity, severity, similarity, simplicity, sincerity, sobriety, society, solemnity, solidarity, solidity, sorority, specificity, spontaneity, stupidity, subjectivity, superconductivity, superfluidity, superiority, supermajority, surety, temerity, tenacity, timidity, toxicity, Trinity, turbidity, ubiquity, unanimity, unfamiliarity, uniformity, unity, university, unpopularity, uppity, validity, vanity, variety, varsity, velocity, velvety, veracity, Verity, vicinity, virginity, virtuosity, viscosity, voracity, vulgarity. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "b-e-i-i-i-l-n-s-s-t-y" | |
-3 letters: senility, sensibly, stibines, tensibly. | |
-4 letters: bylines, enlists, ileitis, instils, liniest, linseys, listens, lysines, silents, stibine, stylise, tinsels. | |
-5 letters: binits, blinis, blites, byline, elints, enlist, ibises, inlets, insets, insist, instil, islets, istles, lenity, linsey, listen, lysine, lysins, niseis, seisin, selsyn, seniti, sibyls, sileni, silent, sliest, slyest, steins, stiles, styles, tinily, tinsel. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-e-i-i-i-l-n-s-s-t-y" | |
+2 letters: insensibility. | |
+3 letters: dispensability, distensibility, responsibility. | |
+4 letters: inaccessibility. | |
+5 letters: indispensability, inexpressibility, insusceptibility, irresponsibility. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 65 6E 73 69 62 69 6C 69 74 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... . -. ... .. -... .. .-.. .. - -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01100101 01101110 01110011 01101001 01100010 01101001 01101100 01101001 01110100 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S e n s i b i l i t y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 0065 006E 0073 0069 0062 0069 006C 0069 0074 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5371808575687578758691 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Speeches 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
