sensible
Pluralsensibles
- 1Guided by sound judgment and reason, or showing such judgment in what one does or decides.
A sensible approach would be to test the software before launching it nationwide.
He's always been sensible about money, never borrowing more than he can repay.
Similarreasonable
Oppositefoolish, unwise, silly, irresponsible
Note
The everyday meaning, though the word began with the body. Latin sēnsibilis meant "perceptible by the senses, having feeling," from sentiō, "to feel, perceive." Having good sense came to mean sound judgment. Its closest synonym is reasonable, and it often follows something: something sensible to say, a sensible approach. It compares as more and most sensible. Sensiblest exists, but it is archaic and rare.
- 2Chosen for practicality, usefulness, or comfort rather than for good looks, formality, or fashion, said especially of clothing.
The dress code called for sensible flats rather than high heels.
They traded the sports car for a sensible sedan when the baby arrived.
Similarpractical, comfortable, functional, sturdy, serviceable
Oppositeimpractical, flashy, frivolous, fashionable
Note
Shoes are its home ground. Kipling imagines "nice, large, sensible shoes" tripping couples at a ballroom in 1889. Agatha Christie gives a woman a "sensible square body" in good thick boots. "Weird Al" Yankovic lists "sensible shoes and a Chevrolet" among the marks of settling down. The phrase praises comfort, but writers often use it with a wink, as the opposite of glamour.
- 3Detectable through physical sensation or mental awareness.
The added insulation produced a sensible reduction in noise from the street.
Instruments recorded no sensible change in pressure during the experiment.
Similarperceptible, detectable, appreciable
Oppositeimperceptible, undetectable, insensible, unappreciable
Note
Scientific and philosophical prose keeps the word close to its Latin root here. John Arbuthnot finds air "sensible to the Touch" in 1751, and William James writes of "a sensible vision" in 1902. Read it as perceptible, appreciable or detectable, never as wise: a sensible change is one you can measure or notice. Its opposites are insensible and imperceptible.
- 4Aware or conscious of something, such as a danger or one's own fault.
The captain was sensible of the risks but pressed on through the strait.
we are now sensible that it would have been absurd
1810, Thomas Green, Extracts from the diary of a lover of literatureNote
The construction is what marks this archaic sense. One is sensible of something, as when Locke says no one can think "without being sensible of it." One can also be sensible that something is true, or make another person sensible of a fact, as Cotton Mather and Cleland both do. It suits period dialogue and formal apology. In ordinary modern prose, aware of or conscious of replaces it.
- 5Able to feel or perceive.
The surgeon confirmed that the scarred tissue was no longer sensible.
Would your cambric were sensible as your finger.
c. 1608, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”Note
Here the thing itself does the feeling. In Coriolanus, Shakespeare wishes a piece of cambric were "sensible as your finger," able to feel what it touches. It is the active partner of the "perceptible" meaning: one perceives, the other is perceived. The sense is archaic, and a modern reader may hear "a sensible finger" as a wise one, so keep it to historical or deliberately old-fashioned writing.
- 6Quick to respond to or be affected by outside influences or impressions.
The photographic plates were highly sensible to light and had to be handled in darkness.
with affection wondrous sensible
c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”Note
Instruments and hearts share this archaic sense. A sensible thermometer is one that responds readily, and The Merchant of Venice speaks of "affection wondrous sensible." Where the "able to feel" meaning asks whether something feels at all, this one asks how easily it is moved. Modern English uses sensitive for both the gauge and the person.
- 7Of or relating to the senses; sensory.
Medieval philosophers divided the soul's powers into rational and sensible faculties.
The poem lingers over the sensible delights of the feast, its colors, aromas, and music.
Note
A classifying use rather than a describing one. It places something within the realm of the senses and says nothing about how noticeable it is, unlike the "perceptible" meaning. It is archaic, and sensory now does its work almost everywhere. Where it appears, it signals a deliberately older style, the vocabulary of faculties and powers.
- 8Something that impresses itself on the senses; anything perceptible.
The scholastics held that each sensible, whether color, sound, or odor, answers to its proper organ.
Aristotle distinguished sensibles into common and proper.
1857, William Fleming, Vocabulary of PhilosophyNote
A philosopher's count noun, usually plural. William Fleming's Vocabulary of Philosophy (1857) notes that Aristotle divided sensibles into common and proper. Richard F. Hassing still writes of "the sensibles" in 2018, discussing Socrates. In general use it is obsolete, but in commentary on ancient thought it remains the natural name for the objects of perception.
- 9Any being capable of feeling or sensation, such as an animal.
Early naturalists ranked the oyster among the lowest of sensibles, scarcely above the plants.
This melancholy extends itself not to men only, but even to vegetals and sensibles.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of MelancholyNote
A rung on an old ladder of living things. Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy says melancholy reaches "not to men only, but even to vegetals and sensibles," sorting creatures by what they can do. Where the "perceptible thing" noun names what is felt, this one names what feels. The word is obsolete in both uses.
- 10Sensation, or the capacity for feeling; sensibility.
The surgeon pressed the wound, but the patient reported no sensible in the limb.
Grief had so dulled her sensible that neither music nor spring could move her.
Note
The adjective turned into a noun with a simple the. Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) speaks of a change of temper that "must needs remove the sensible of pain," meaning the feeling of it. It is obsolete. A writer today would say sensation, or sensibility for the capacity to feel.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Latin sēnsibilis ("perceptible by the senses, having feeling"), which comes from sentiō ("to feel, perceive").