sensei

noun

sen·​sei ˈsen-ˌsā 

plural sensei or senseis

: a teacher or instructor usually of Japanese martial arts (such as karate or judo)

Examples of sensei in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Hannah-Kim joined the show in Season 6, playing Kim Da-Eun, a sensei from South Korea who teams up with Kreese to take down a rival studio, which happens to be owned by Kreese's former student Johnny Lawrence, played by William Zabka, and his former rival, Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio. —Lori A Bashian, FOXNews.com, 24 June 2025

Kove played John Kreese, the temperamental sensei in the original three Karate Kid films, reprising the role in Netflix’s Cobra Kai alongside Ralph Macchio and William Zabka across the show’s six seasons. —Dominic Patten, Deadline, 23 June 2025

Having Johnny and Daniel have this training sequence where Daniel is Johnny’s sensei with that song playing felt perfect. —EW.com, 16 June 2025

Conor, after all, trains with a hard-hitting Cobra Kai-like dojo named Demolition with an edgy John Kreese-like sensei named O’Shea (Tim Rozon), even though O’Shea barely has a presence in comparison to Martin Kove’s Kreese in the Karate Kid movies and Cobra Kai. —Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Japanese, teacher, master

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for sensei

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret