sensibility

noun

sen·​si·​bil·​i·​ty ˌsen(t)-sə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

plural sensibilities

1

: ability to receive sensations : sensitiveness

tactile sensibility

2

: peculiar susceptibility to a pleasurable or painful impression (as from praise or a slight)

—often used in plural

3

: awareness of and responsiveness toward something (such as emotion in another)

4

: refined or excessive sensitiveness in emotion and taste with especial responsiveness to the pathetic

Did you know?

The meanings of sensibility run the gamut from mere sensation to excessive sentimentality. In between is a capacity for delicate appreciation, a sense often pluralized. In Jane Austen's books, sensibility is mostly an admirable quality she attributes to, or finds lacking in, her characters: "He had ... a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely" (of Mr. Elliot in Persuasion). In Sense and Sensibility, however, Austen starts out by ascribing to Marianne sensibleness, on the one hand, but an "excess of sensibility" on the other: "Her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation ... she was everything but prudent."

Synonyms

• feeling
• heartstrings
• passions

Examples of sensibility in a Sentence

The writer is remembered most for his sensibility.

She's a woman of poetic sensibility.

Recent Examples on the Web

Tilda’s the talk of the town: The Berlin Film Festival kicked off Thursday evening with a brief ceremony that, despite all its German sensibility, belonged to Scottish actor Tilda Swinton. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 14 Feb. 2025

Marvelously French in sensibility, pots de creme are simple yet refined, timelessly appealing and crafted with a short list of quality ingredients. —Lynda Balslev, The Mercury News, 10 Feb. 2025

Framing Ja Rule as a softie and a crooner, 50 Cent had just tucked the artist’s chart-topping career into an eternal slumber in the mid-aughts Drake’s first five years as a Cash Money commodity dovetail with fallout from those sensibilities. —Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025

Armitage, like Clark, combined her training in ballet with a nonconformist sensibility characterized by angular, aggressive gestures and spontaneous bursts of speed. —Beatrice Loayza, ARTnews.com, 6 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sensibility

• affability
• audibility
• bistability
• capability
• changeability
• contractility
• credibility
• culpability
• disability
• disutility
• durability
• fallibility

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Kids Definition

sensibility

noun

sen·​si·​bil·​i·​ty ˌsen(t)-sə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

plural sensibilities

1

: ability to receive sensations : sensitiveness

2

: response to a pleasurable or painful impression (as praise or criticism)

3

: the emotion or feeling of which a person is capable

Medical Definition

sensibility

noun

sen·​si·​bil·​i·​ty ˌsen(t)-sə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

plural sensibilities

1

: ability to receive sensations

sensibility to pain

2

: awareness of and responsiveness toward something (as emotion in another)