- the ability to perceive or feel
- (often plural) the capacity for responding to emotion, impression, etc
- (often plural) the capacity for responding to aesthetic stimuli
- mental responsiveness; discernment; awareness
- (usually plural) emotional or moral feelings: cruelty offends most people's sensibilities
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
sen•si•bil•i•ty /ˌsɛnsəˈbɪlɪti/USA pronunciation
n., pl. -ties.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- [uncountable] capacity for feeling;
responsiveness to stimuli. - [uncountable] mental responsiveness, esp. to subtle feelings.
- Often, sensibilities. [plural] capacity to respond to blame or praise:a harmless remark that offended his sensibilities.
- Often, sensibilities. [plural] capacity for discrimination:a person of refined sensibilities.
sen•si•bil•i•ty
(sen′sə bil′i tē),USA pronunciation n., pl. -ties.
- capacity for sensation or feeling;
responsiveness or susceptibility to sensory stimuli. - mental susceptibility or responsiveness;
quickness and acuteness of apprehension or feeling. - keen consciousness or appreciation.
- sensibilities, emotional capacities.
- Sometimes, sensibilities. liability to feel hurt or offended;
sensitive feelings. - Often, sensibilities. capacity for intellectual and aesthetic distinctions, feelings, tastes, etc.:a man of refined sensibilities.
- the property, as in plants or instruments, of being readily affected by external influences.
- Late Latin sēnsibilitās. See sensible, -ity
- Middle French
- Middle English sensibilite 1325–75
- 1. Sensibility, susceptibility, sensitiveness, sensitivity refer to capacity to respond to or be affected by something. Sensibility is, particularly, capacity to respond to aesthetic and emotional stimuli:the sensibility of the artist.Susceptibility is the state or quality of being impressionable and responsive, esp. to emotional stimuli; in the plural it has much the same meaning as sensibility:a person of keen susceptibilities.Sensitiveness is the state or quality of being sensitive, of having a capacity of sensation and of responding to external stimuli:sensitiveness to light.Sensitivity is a special capability of being sensitive to physiological, chemical action or a tendency to be easily affected by the adverse reactions of others:the sensitivity of a nerve; sensitivity to criticism. 2. alertness, awareness.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
sensibility /ˌsɛnsɪˈbɪlɪtɪ/ n ( pl -ties)
'Sensibility' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
artist
- feeling
- Lee
- Thompson
- Winslet
- esthesiometer
- exquisite
- finesse
- insensitive
- modern
- paregmenon
- poetic
- Sense and Sensibility
- sensitive
- sensitiveness
- sensitivity
- sentiment
- stupefy
- stupor
- Sturm und Drang
- susceptibility