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as in unconscious
having lost consciousness if a choking person is insensible, you should lay them down on their back before performing the Heimlich maneuver

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as in insensate
lacking animate awareness or sensation even the canyon's insensible rocks seemed to mock the stranded climber's utter helplessness

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of insensible Also invited, for insensible reasons, is Neville’s first wife, Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland), blond to Kay’s brunette, for easy identification. Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2025 The ‘real’ Camille, meanwhile, has become an insensible, comatose carcass, although no one seems to notice. Damon Wise, Deadline, 24 Jan. 2025 Foreman tumbled downward in a dizzy, slow-motion-like crash, full-weight, a helpless giant, insensible. Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2025 The ‘real’ Camille, meanwhile, has become an insensible, comatose carcass, although no one seems to notice. Damon Wise, Deadline, 24 Jan. 2025 Foreman tumbled downward in a dizzy, slow-motion-like crash, full-weight, a helpless giant, insensible. Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2025 Or lobbyists can sometimes intervene and gain insensible exemptions from bans. IEEE Spectrum, 10 Feb. 2024 But the Cylinder Sling by Building Block flirts with such attitude without becoming rude or insensible. Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2022 The novel positions him as insensible to agendas, hopelessly subject to the whims of the altruistic and the cruel. Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insensible
Adjective
  • Man who caused crash was ‘crying on his knees’ When police arrived at the crash, Brooke was found unconscious and bleeding from her head, according to court documents.
    Amaia Gavica, Idaho Statesman, 26 June 2025
  • The passenger said a man was also knocked unconscious.
    Stephen Sorace, FOXNews.com, 24 June 2025
Adjective
  • Whether in a lab or a bedroom, the unconscious brain often connects ideas in ways our waking selves can’t, delivering sudden insights that feel like inspiration — but are really the reward for deep, often invisible, thought.
    Chris Reed, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 July 2025
  • The app is invisible and undetectable on the phone.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 3 July 2025
Adjective
  • At half-time, as Rayan Cherki enjoyed 15 minutes of nonchalant showboating, an altogether more ferocious warm-up was taking place just across the pitch.
    Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 27 June 2025
  • Actress January Jones channeled Isabel Marant’s nonchalant French-girl style by wearing an oversized sweater and cutoff jean shorts to a dinner hosted by the designer.
    Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 12 June 2025
Adjective
  • The brain, like other internal organs, is insensate, its lack of sensory receptors attested by videos of virtuoso violinists who play on unfazed as neurosurgeons go to work inside their skulls.
    Matthew Ponsford, WIRED, 19 Sep. 2024
  • But states have used midazolam alone — and at much higher doses — in executions since 2013, claiming the drug will render people insensate to pain before the administration of other lethal injection drugs.
    Lauren Gill, ProPublica, 29 Apr. 2023
Adjective
  • Using vulgar, profane or indecent language in a loud or boisterous manner in the presence of children.
    Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 16 June 2025
  • Between 12% and 13.3% of Americans, around 10% of Brits, and 9.4% of Australians used at least one vulgar word in their data.
    CNN Money, CNN Money, 15 June 2025
Adjective
  • The former Fox host Tucker Carlson, who opposed such an operation, sparred with two boosters: the current Fox host Mark Levin, and the Republican senator Ted Cruz, whom Carlson revealed to be ignorant of basic facts about Iran in a clip that went viral.
    Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 27 June 2025
  • Maybe LLMs get us 80% of the way there without any oversight, but skipping the context and being completely ignorant of what the machine is doing is typically not a good idea, partly for the reasons that the panelists laid out.
    John Werner, Forbes.com, 19 June 2025
Adjective
  • Deepfakes can be detected by analyzing pixel-level abnormalities that are imperceptible to humans.
    Rohan Pinto, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
  • Among adults and adolescents, there was no difference at all between the two groups; among children, the differences were so minor as to be almost imperceptible.
    Paul Tough Eric Jason Martin Krish Seenivasan Brian St. Pierre, New York Times, 13 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Even casual users should take a moment to review their settings and chat history to make sure personal details aren’t being shared without their knowledge.
    Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 1 July 2025
  • Leading the pack is former special-forces operative Zora Bennett (a pathologically chipper Scarlett Johansson, often rocking some casual Linda Hamilton cosplay), who’s allegedly still reeling from the death of a beloved colleague on her most recent mission.
    David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 30 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Insensible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insensible. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.

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