# sensible

Pronunciation: US say "SEN-suh-buhl" /ˈsɛn.sə.bəl/; say "SEN-si-buhl" UK /ˈsɛn.sɪ.bəl/, AUS /ˈsen.sɪ.bəl/

## Adjective

1. Guided by sound judgment and reason, or showing such judgment in what one does or decides.
   - Simple: Showing good judgment and making smart, careful choices.
   - _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._
2. Chosen for practicality, usefulness, or comfort rather than for good looks, formality, or fashion, said especially of clothing.
   - Simple: Comfortable and useful, not fancy or stylish. Often used about clothes and shoes.
   - _The dress code called for sensible flats rather than high heels._
   - _They traded the sports car for a sensible sedan when the baby arrived._
3. Detectable through physical sensation or mental awareness.
   - Simple: Able to be noticed with the senses, like something you can see, hear, or feel.
   - _The added insulation produced a sensible reduction in noise from the street._
   - _Instruments recorded no sensible change in pressure during the experiment._

## Adjective

4. Aware or conscious of something, such as a danger or one's own fault. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Aware of something, or knowing that it is happening.
   - _The captain was sensible of the risks but pressed on through the strait._
   - _I am sensible that my conduct has given offense, and I ask your pardon._
5. Able to feel or perceive. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Able to feel things or notice them with the senses.
   - _The surgeon confirmed that the scarred tissue was no longer sensible._
   - _Philosophers of the period debated whether plants were sensible or merely alive._
6. Quick to respond to or be affected by outside influences or impressions. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Easily affected by things around it, like light, touch, or unkind words.
   - _The photographic plates were highly sensible to light and had to be handled in darkness._
   - _As a child she was sensible to the slightest reproach, and a sharp word could bring tears._
7. Of or relating to the senses; sensory. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Connected with the senses, like seeing, hearing, and touching.
   - _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._

## Noun

8. Something that impresses itself on the senses; anything perceptible. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Something you can notice with your senses, like a sound or a color.
   - _The scholastics held that each sensible, whether color, sound, or odor, answers to its proper organ._
   - _For the empiricists, knowledge begins with sensibles and climbs by degrees toward abstraction._
9. Any being capable of feeling or sensation, such as an animal. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A living thing that can feel, unlike a plant or a stone.
   - _Early naturalists ranked the oyster among the lowest of sensibles, scarcely above the plants._
   - _In the old scheme of nature, a sensible occupied the rank between vegetable life and rational man._
10. Sensation, or the capacity for feeling; sensibility. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The power to feel things, or the feeling itself.
   - _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._

## Origin

From Latin sēnsibilis ("perceptible by the senses, having feeling"), which comes from sentiō ("to feel, perceive").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sensible (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).