sensible

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1. The primary meaning of sensible is 'having (common) sense', i.e. the opposite of foolish, and of sensitive 'easily offended or emotionally hurt'. In these uses they hardly get in each other's way. Where they overlap is in meanings to do with reactions involving the senses or feelings: you are sensible of something when you apprehend it with emotional consciousness and are sensitive to something when you react to it with strong emotional feeling, the words 'consciousness' and 'feeling' characterizing the difference between the two. However, sensible of now sounds old-fashioned, and a more likely choice of words might be conscious of or aware of, although these admittedly denote intellectual rather than emotional perceptions.

2. The nouns sensibility and sensitivity are harder to keep apart. Sensibility corresponds to sensible (in its familiar meaning) much less closely than sensitivity does to sensitive, and chiefly denotes (often in the plural) a person's delicate finer feelings:

Walter was a little hurt at this since he did most of the cooking at their place, but Zimmerman was too upset to worry about Walter's sensibilities—Ben Elton, 1992.

Sensitivity has a wider range of meanings concerned with physical or emotional reactions of various kinds:

My reference to it was simply a tease, and all the more tempting given Victor's known sensitivity on the point—Climber and Hill Walker, 1991

This book's greatest strength is its sensitivity to Kissinger the man—Scotland on Sunday, 2004.

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adjective

1. Composed of or relating to things that occupy space and can be perceived by the senses: concrete, corporeal, material, objective, phenomenal, physical, substantial, tangible. See body/spirit, matter.
2. Capable of being noticed or apprehended mentally: appreciable, detectable, discernible, distinguishable, noticeable, observable, palpable, perceivable, perceptible, ponderable. See knowledge/ignorance.
3. Able to receive and respond to external stimuli: impressible, impressionable, responsive, sensitive, sentient, susceptible, susceptive. See awareness/unawareness.
4. Marked by comprehension, cognizance, and perception: alive, awake, aware, cognizant, sentient, wise¹. Slang hip. Idioms: on to. See knowledge/ignorance.
5. Possessing, proceeding from, or exhibiting good judgment and prudence: balanced, commonsensible, commonsensical, judicious, levelheaded, prudent, rational, reasonable, sagacious, sage, sane, sapient, sound², well-founded, well-grounded, wise¹. See reason/unreason, sane/insane.

adj

Definition: realistic, reasonable
Antonyms: foolish, indiscreet, senseless, unrealistic, unreasonable, unwise

IN BRIEF: adj. - Showing reason or sound judgment; Able to feel or perceive.

We think very few people sensible, except those who are of our opinion. — Duc de La Rochefoucauld Source: Réflexions ou Sentences et Maximes Morales

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Perceptible to the senses; capable of sensation.

For a list of words related to sensible, see:

• Moderate, Sane, Conservative, or Old-Fashioned

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See words rhyming with "sensible."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Sensible.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - fornuftig, mærkbar, fintmærkende

Nederlands (Dutch)
zinnig, verstandig, doordacht, redelijk, aanzienlijk, merkbaar

Français (French)
adj. - raisonnable, sensé, judicieux, intelligent, pratique, sensible/perceptible, conscient de qch, sensible à qch

Deutsch (German)
adj. - merklich, vernünftig

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - αισθητός, αντιληπτός, λογικός, εύλογος, γνωστικός, συνετός

Italiano (Italian)
ponderato, sensato, sensibile, pratico

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - sensível

Русский (Russian)
разумный, ощутимый, понимающий, чувствующий, в сознании

Español (Spanish)
adj. - cuerdo, razonable, acertado, sensato, prudente, perceptible, visible, práctico

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - förståndig, förnuftig, klok, medveten, märkbar

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
有感觉的, 明智的, 有判断力的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 有感覺的, 明智的, 有判斷力的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 분별 있는, 깨닫고, 느낄 수 있는 정도의

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 分別のある, 気のきいた, 感じられる, 目立つほどの, 感じやすい
n. - 知覚できるもの

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) كبير, مدرك, محسوس,‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮הגיוני, נבון, נתפס בחושים, ניכר, משמעותי, מעשי, מודע ל-, חש‬

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