n. (Psychol.) A sensation or sense impression following the removal of a stimulus producing a primary sensation, and reproducing the primary sensation in positive, negative, or complementary form. The aftersensation may be continuous with the primary sensation or follow it after an interval. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

See Common sense, under Sense.

n. (Scots Law) A common; a piece of land in which two or more persons have a common right. Bell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. consensio. ] Agreement; accord. Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Consent, v. i., and cf. Sensual. ] 1. (Law) Existing, or made, by the mutual consent of two or more parties. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) Excited or caused by sensation, sympathy, or reflex action, and not by conscious volition; as, consensual motions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Consensual contract (Law), a contract formed merely by consent, as a marriage contract. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. See Consent. ] Agreement; accord; consent. [ 1913 Webster ]

That traditional consensus of society which we call public opinion. Tylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. same as desensitization.
Syn. -- desensitization. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. same as desensitize.
Syn. -- deaden. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the process of reducing or eliminating sensitivity.
Syn. -- desensitisation. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. to rendered insensitive or less sensitive. Opposite of sensitize.
Syn. -- deaden. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. rendered insensitive.
Syn. -- deadened. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. making less susceptible or sensitive to either physical or emotional stimuli. Opposite of sensitizing. [ Narrower terms: numbing ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Pref. dis- + en (L. in) + sanity. ] Insanity; folly. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

What tediosity and disensanity
Is here among! Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Freed from a shroudlike covering; unveiled. [ 1913 Webster ]

The disenshrouded statue. R. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To free from bondage or slavery; to disenthrall. [ 1913 Webster ]

He shall disenslave and redeem his soul. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. dissensio: cf. F. dissension. See Dissent. ] Disagreement in opinion, usually of a violent character, producing warm debates or angry words; contention in words; partisan and contentious divisions; breach of friendship and union; strife; discord; quarrel. [ 1913 Webster ]

Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them. Acts xv. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

Debates, dissension, uproars are thy joy. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

A seditious person and raiser-up of dissension among the people. Robynson (More's Utopia). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Disposed to discord; contentious; dissentious. [ R. ] Ascham. -- Dis*sen"sious*ly, adv. Chapman. [1913 Webster]

n. the ability to perceive or gain information about external facts or events by means other than the senses. the existence of such an ability, as well as other parapsychologial phenomena, is widely disbelieved among scientists, and no demonstration of the phenomenon satisfyng rigorous standards of scientific proof has been reported. [ PJC ]

n. See Hyperæsthesia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. insensatus. See In- not, and Sensate. ] Wanting sensibility; destitute of sense; stupid; foolish. [ 1913 Webster ]

The silence and the calm
Of mute, insensate things. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

The meddling folly or insensate ambition of statesmen. Buckle.

-- In*sen"sate*ly, adv. -- In*sen"sate*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. in- in + sense. ] To make to understand; to instruct. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. insensibilité. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The state or quality of being insensible; lack of sensibility; torpor; unconsciousness; as, the insensibility produced by a fall, or by opiates. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lack of tenderness or susceptibility of emotion or passion; dullness; stupidity.

Syn. -- Dullness; numbness; unfeelingness; stupidity; torpor; apathy; impassiveness; indifference. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. insensibilis: cf. F. insensible. See In- not, and Sensible. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Destitute of the power of feeling or perceiving; wanting bodily sensibility; unconscious. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not susceptible of emotion or passion; void of feeling; apathetic; unconcerned; indifferent; as, insensible to danger, fear, love, etc.; -- often used with of or to. [ 1913 Webster ]

Accept an obligation without being a slave to the giver, or insensible to his kindness. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lost in their loves, insensible of shame. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Incapable of being perceived by the senses; imperceptible. Hence: Progressing by imperceptible degrees; slow; gradual; as, insensible motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two small and almost insensible pricks were found upon Cleopatra's arm. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

They fall away,
And languish with insensible decay. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Not sensible or reasonable; meaningless. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

If it make the indictment be insensible or uncertain, it shall be quashed. Sir M. Hale.

5. Incapable of feeling a specific sensation or emotion; as, insensible to pity. [ PJC ]

Syn. -- Imperceptible; imperceivable; dull; stupid; torpid; numb; unfeeling; apathetic; stoical; impassive; indifferent; unsusceptible; hard; callous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Insensibility. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a manner not to be felt or perceived; imperceptibly; gradually. [ 1913 Webster ]

The hills rise insensibly. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not sensitive; wanting sensation, or wanting acute sensibility. Tillotson. Ruskin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. in- not + sensuous. ] Not sensuous; not pertaining to, affecting, or addressing, the senses. [ 1913 Webster ]

That intermediate door
Betwixt the different planes of sensuous form
And form insensuous. Mrs. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. Affected by light; as, the light-sensitive pigments in the retina.
Syn. -- photosensitive. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Hence: (Chem.) Decomposing under the influence of light; unstable when exposed to light; -- of chemical compounds. [ PJC ]

a. [ neuro- + sensiferous. ] (Zool.) Pertaining to, or forming, both nerves and sense organs. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. Not tolerating irrelevant or frivolous distractions; businesslike; serious; as, the no-nonsense tones of a stern parent; the chairman adopted a no-nonsense attitude. [ wns=1 ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Serving the purpose without unnecessary complications; uncomplicated; plain; not fancy. [ PJC ]

3. Hence: Practical and economical. [ PJC ]

n. [ Pref. non- + sense: cf. F. nonsens. ] 1. That which is not sense, or has no sense; words, or language, which have no meaning, or which convey no intelligible ideas; absurdity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Trifles; things of no importance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nonsense verses, lines made by taking any words which occur, but especially certain words which it is desired to recollect, and arranging them without reference to anything but the measure, so that the rhythm of the lines may aid in recalling the remembrance of the words. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Folly; silliness; absurdity; trash; balderdash. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without sense; unmeaning; absurd; foolish; irrational; preposterous. -- Non*sen"si*cal*ly, adv. -- Non*sen"si*cal*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not sensitive; wanting sense or perception; not easily affected. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Previous sensation, notion, or idea. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. praesensio, fr. praesentire to perceive beforehand. See Presentient. ] Previous perception. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ See Since. ] Since. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Sensated p. pr. & vb. n. Sensating. ] [ See Sensated. ] To feel or apprehend more or less distinctly through a sense, or the senses; as, to sensate light, or an odor. [ 1913 Webster ]

As those of the one are sensated by the ear, so those of the other are by the eye. R. Hooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. sensatus gifted with sense, intelligent, fr. sensus sense. See Sense. ] Felt or apprehended through a sense, or the senses. [ R. ] Baxter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. sensation. See Sensate. ] 1. (Physiol.) An impression, or the consciousness of an impression, made upon the central nervous organ, through the medium of a sensory or afferent nerve or one of the organs of sense; a feeling, or state of consciousness, whether agreeable or disagreeable, produced either by an external object (stimulus), or by some change in the internal state of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

Perception is only a special kind of knowledge, and sensation a special kind of feeling. . . . Knowledge and feeling, perception and sensation, though always coexistent, are always in the inverse ratio of each other. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A purely spiritual or psychical affection; agreeable or disagreeable feelings occasioned by objects that are not corporeal or material. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A state of excited interest or feeling, or that which causes it. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sensation caused by the appearance of that work is still remembered by many. Brougham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Perception. -- Sensation, Perseption. The distinction between these words, when used in mental philosophy, may be thus stated; if I simply smell a rose, I have a sensation; if I refer that smell to the external object which occasioned it, I have a perception. Thus, the former is mere feeling, without the idea of an object; the latter is the mind's apprehension of some external object as occasioning that feeling. “Sensation properly expresses that change in the state of the mind which is produced by an impression upon an organ of sense (of which change we can conceive the mind to be conscious, without any knowledge of external objects). Perception, on the other hand, expresses the knowledge or the intimations we obtain by means of our sensations concerning the qualities of matter, and consequently involves, in every instance, the notion of externality, or outness, which it is necessary to exclude in order to seize the precise import of the word sensation.” Fleming. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of or pertaining to sensation; as, sensational nerves. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to sensationalism, or the doctrine that sensation is the sole origin of knowledge. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Suited or intended to excite temporarily great interest or emotion; melodramatic; emotional; as, sensational plays or novels; sensational preaching; sensational journalism; a sensational report. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Metaph.) The doctrine held by Condillac, and by some ascribed to Locke, that our ideas originate solely in sensation, and consist of sensations transformed; sensualism; -- opposed to intuitionalism, and rationalism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The practice or methods of sensational writing or speaking; as, the sensationalism of a novel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Metaph.) An advocate of, or believer in, philosophical sensationalism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who practices sensational writing or speaking. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. sensus, from sentire, sensum, to perceive, to feel, from the same root as E. send; cf. OHG. sin sense, mind, sinnan to go, to journey, G. sinnen to meditate, to think: cf. F. sens. For the change of meaning cf. See, v. t. See Send, and cf. Assent, Consent, Scent, v. t., Sentence, Sentient. ] 1. (Physiol.) A faculty, possessed by animals, of perceiving external objects by means of impressions made upon certain organs (sensory or sense organs) of the body, or of perceiving changes in the condition of the body; as, the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. See Muscular sense, under Muscular, and Temperature sense, under Temperature. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

What surmounts the reach
Of human sense I shall delineate. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The traitor Sense recalls
The soaring soul from rest. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Perception by the sensory organs of the body; sensation; sensibility; feeling. [ 1913 Webster ]

In a living creature, though never so great, the sense and the affects of any one part of the body instantly make a transcursion through the whole. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Perception through the intellect; apprehension; recognition; understanding; discernment; appreciation. [ 1913 Webster ]

This Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

High disdain from sense of injured merit. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound, true, or reasonable; rational meaning. “He speaks sense.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He raves; his words are loose
As heaps of sand, and scattering wide from sense. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. That which is felt or is held as a sentiment, view, or opinion; judgment; notion; opinion. [ 1913 Webster ]

I speak my private but impartial sense
With freedom. Roscommon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The municipal council of the city had ceased to speak the sense of the citizens. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Meaning; import; signification; as, the true sense of words or phrases; the sense of a remark. [ 1913 Webster ]

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense. Neh. viii. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

I think 't was in another sense. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. Moral perception or appreciation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no sense of the most friendly offices. L' Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Geom.) One of two opposite directions in which a line, surface, or volume, may be supposed to be described by the motion of a point, line, or surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

Common sense, according to Sir W. Hamilton: (a) “The complement of those cognitions or convictions which we receive from nature, which all men possess in common, and by which they test the truth of knowledge and the morality of actions.” (b) “The faculty of first principles.” These two are the philosophical significations. (c) “Such ordinary complement of intelligence, that, if a person be deficient therein, he is accounted mad or foolish.” (d) When the substantive is emphasized: “Native practical intelligence, natural prudence, mother wit, tact in behavior, acuteness in the observation of character, in contrast to habits of acquired learning or of speculation.” --
Moral sense. See under Moral, (a). --
The inner sense, or
The internal sense, capacity of the mind to be aware of its own states; consciousness; reflection. “This source of ideas every man has wholly in himself, and though it be not sense, as having nothing to do with external objects, yet it is very like it, and might properly enough be called internal sense.” Locke. --
Sense capsule (Anat.), one of the cartilaginous or bony cavities which inclose, more or less completely, the organs of smell, sight, and hearing. --
Sense organ (Physiol.), a specially irritable mechanism by which some one natural force or form of energy is enabled to excite sensory nerves; as the eye, ear, an end bulb or tactile corpuscle, etc. --
Sense organule (Anat.), one of the modified epithelial cells in or near which the fibers of the sensory nerves terminate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Understanding; reason. -- Sense, Understanding, Reason. Some philosophers have given a technical signification to these terms, which may here be stated. Sense is the mind's acting in the direct cognition either of material objects or of its own mental states. In the first case it is called the outer, in the second the inner, sense. Understanding is the logical faculty, i. e., the power of apprehending under general conceptions, or the power of classifying, arranging, and making deductions. Reason is the power of apprehending those first or fundamental truths or principles which are the conditions of all real and scientific knowledge, and which control the mind in all its processes of investigation and deduction. These distinctions are given, not as established, but simply because they often occur in writers of the present day. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Sensed p. pr. & vb. n. Sensing. ] To perceive by the senses; to recognize. [ Obs. or Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Is he sure that objects are not otherwise sensed by others than they are by him? Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of sense, meaning, or reason; reasonable; judicious. [ R. ] “Senseful speech.” Spenser. “Men, otherwise senseful and ingenious.” Norris. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of, deficient in, or contrary to, sense; without sensibility or feeling; unconscious; stupid; foolish; unwise; unreasonable. [ 1913 Webster ]

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ears are senseless that should give us hearing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The senseless grave feels not your pious sorrows. Rowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

They were a senseless, stupid race. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

They would repent this their senseless perverseness when it would be too late. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Sense"less*ly, adv. -- Sense"less*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Sensibilities [ Cf. F. sensibilité, LL. sensibilitas. ] 1. (Physiol.) The quality or state of being sensible, or capable of sensation; capacity to feel or perceive. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The capacity of emotion or feeling, as distinguished from the intellect and the will; peculiar susceptibility of impression, pleasurable or painful; delicacy of feeling; quick emotion or sympathy; as, sensibility to pleasure or pain; sensibility to shame or praise; exquisite sensibility; -- often used in the plural. “Sensibilities so fine!” Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

The true lawgiver ought to have a heart full of sensibility. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

His sensibilities seem rather to have been those of patriotism than of wounded pride. Marshall. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Experience of sensation; actual feeling. [ 1913 Webster ]

This adds greatly to my sensibility. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. That quality of an instrument which makes it indicate very slight changes of condition; delicacy; as, the sensibility of a balance, or of a thermometer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Taste; susceptibility; feeling. See Taste. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F., fr. L. sensibilis, fr. sensus sense. ] 1. Capable of being perceived by the senses; apprehensible through the bodily organs; hence, also, perceptible to the mind; making an impression upon the sense, reason, or understanding; as, sensible heat; sensible resistance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Air is sensible to the touch by its motion. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

The disgrace was more sensible than the pain. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

Any very sensible effect upon the prices of things. A. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having the capacity of receiving impressions from external objects; capable of perceiving by the instrumentality of the proper organs; liable to be affected physically or mentally; impressible. [ 1913 Webster ]

Would your cambric were sensible as your finger. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence: Liable to impression from without; easily affected; having nice perception or acute feeling; sensitive; also, readily moved or affected by natural agents; delicate; as, a sensible thermometer. “With affection wondrous sensible.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Perceiving or having perception, either by the senses or the mind; cognizant; perceiving so clearly as to be convinced; satisfied; persuaded. [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ man ] can not think at any time, waking or sleeping, without being sensible of it. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

They are now sensible it would have been better to comply than to refuse. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Having moral perception; capable of being affected by moral good or evil. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Possessing or containing sense or reason; gifted with, or characterized by, good or common sense; intelligent; wise. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now a sensible man, by and by a fool. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sensible note or
Sensible tone (Mus.), the major seventh note of any scale; -- so called because, being but a half step below the octave, or key tone, and naturally leading up to that, it makes the ear sensible of its approaching sound. Called also the leading tone. --
Sensible horizon. See Horizon, n., 2. (a). [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Intelligent; wise. -- Sensible, Intelligent. We call a man sensible whose judgments and conduct are marked and governed by sound judgment or good common sense. We call one intelligent who is quick and clear in his understanding, i. e., who discriminates readily and nicely in respect to difficult and important distinctions. The sphere of the sensible man lies in matters of practical concern; of the intelligent man, in subjects of intellectual interest. “I have been tired with accounts from sensible men, furnished with matters of fact which have happened within their own knowledge.” Addison. “Trace out the numerous footsteps . . . of a most wise and intelligent architect throughout all this stupendous fabric.” Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Sensation; sensibility. [ R. ] “Our temper changed . . . which must needs remove the sensible of pain.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which impresses itself on the sense; anything perceptible. [ 1913 Webster ]

Aristotle distinguished sensibles into common and proper. Krauth-Fleming. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which has sensibility; a sensitive being. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This melancholy extends itself not to men only, but even to vegetals and sensibles. Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The quality or state of being sensible; sensibility; appreciation; capacity of perception; susceptibility. “The sensibleness of the eye.” Sharp. “Sensibleness and sorrow for sin.” Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

The sensibleness of the divine presence. Hallywell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Intelligence; reasonableness; good sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In a sensible manner; so as to be perceptible to the senses or to the mind; appreciably; with perception; susceptibly; sensitively. [ 1913 Webster ]

What remains past cure,
Bear not too sensibly. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. With intelligence or good sense; judiciously. [ 1913 Webster ]