1
: capable of sensing or feeling : conscious of or responsive to the sensations of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, or smelling
sentient beings
Some among the group of potters … speak of the kiln as though it were sentient.Barry Lopez
But the really intriguing question is a hypothetical one. What would Google's response be if it realised that it actually had a sentient machine on its hands?John Naughton
But the terrible silence and emptiness seemed to symbolize her future—she felt as though the house, the street, the world were all empty, and she alone left sentient in a lifeless universe.Edith Wharton
2
: aware
sentient of the danger posed by the approaching hurricane
But the strange thing is that a boy so sentient of his surroundings should have been so insensible to the real world about him.W. A. White
3
: finely sensitive in perception or feeling
a sentient author with beautiful prose
As every sentient diplomat knows, diplomacy uses the reputation of power to achieve what power itself often cannot achieve, or can achieve only at greater and sometimes excessive cost.Colin L. Powell
sentiently adverb

Did you know?

You may have guessed that sentient has something to do with the senses. The initial spelling sent- or sens- is often a giveaway for such a meaning. A sentient being is one who perceives or responds to sensations of whatever kind—sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. Sentient ultimately comes from the Latin verb sentire, which means "to feel" or "to perceive." (The Latin noun sensus means "sense.") A few related English words that descend from the same Latin root are sentiment and sentimental, which have to do with emotions, sensual, which relates to more physical sensations, and the trio of assent, consent, and dissent, which involve expressions of agreement (or disagreement in the case of dissent) in thought and feeling with another.

Examples of sentient in a Sentence

sentient of the danger posed by the approaching hurricane
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But then, thanks to a cryptic sentient car GPS, they're brought together for a road trip that involves opening a series of random doors to their pasts. Brian Truitt, USA Today, 19 Sep. 2025 In short, Might Gaine is an anime that asks the age-old question of what if Batman were a Japanese teenager with an arsenal of sentient trains that transformed into robots. Ollie Barder, Forbes.com, 17 Sep. 2025 The scientist experiments with animating parts of a corpse and succeeds in creating a sentient man. Thomas Page McBee, Travel + Leisure, 16 Sep. 2025 In 2022, a Google engineer claimed one of the company’s AIs was sentient. Maya Ackerman, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sentient

Word History

Etymology

Latin sentient-, sentiens, present participle of sentire to perceive, feel

First Known Use

1604, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of sentient was in 1604

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Cite this Entry

“Sentient.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentient. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

sentient

adjective
sen·​tient ˈsen-ch(ē-)ənt How to pronounce sentient (audio)
1
: capable of sensing or feeling
sentient beings
2
: aware
sentient of one's surroundings

Medical Definition

sentient

adjective
: responsive to or conscious of sense impressions
sentiently adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on sentient

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