sensibility

noun

sen·​si·​bil·​i·​ty ˌsen(t)-sə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

plural sensibilities

1

: ability to receive sensations : sensitiveness

tactile sensibility

2

: peculiar susceptibility to a pleasurable or painful impression (as from praise or a slight)

—often plural

3

: awareness of and responsiveness toward something (such as emotion in another)

4

: refined or excessive sensitiveness in emotion and taste with especial responsiveness to the pathetic

Did you know?

The meanings of sensibility run the gamut from mere sensation to excessive sentimentality, but we’re here to help you make sense of it all. In between is a capacity for delicate appreciation, a sense often pluralized. In Jane Austen’s books, sensibility is mostly an admirable quality she attributes to, or finds lacking in, her characters: “He had ... a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely” (of Mr. Elliot in Persuasion). In Sense and Sensibility, however, Austen starts out by ascribing to Marianne sensibleness, on the one hand, but an “excess of sensibility” on the other: “Her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation ... she was everything but prudent.”

Synonyms of sensibility

• feeling
• passions
• mood

Examples of sensibility in a Sentence

The writer is remembered most for his sensibility.

She's a woman of poetic sensibility.

Recent Examples on the Web

What equality means is that all people have a deep innate intelligence, worth and moral sensibility. — John Blake, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026

Over the course of about a half hour on stage, Shonen Knife fed their Ramones like punk sensibility through a Beach Boys lens, producing a unique brand of jangly, melodic, hooky punk rock complete with gorgeous live harmonies. — Jim Ryan, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026

Not just anyone could pull off the beachy, free-spirited sandals, but her fashion sensibility has always leaned towards the ethereal and romantic. — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 20 Aug. 2026

The rub, though, is that his existing sensibility overlapped so closely with Gunn’s that many viewers treated Kara Zor-El’s cosmic journey as an extension of the more familiar filmmaker/studio head. — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 19 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sensibility

• affability
• audibility
• bistability
• capability
• changeability
• contractility
• credibility
• culpability
• disability
• disutility
• durability
• fallibility

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Kids Definition

sensibility

noun

sen·​si·​bil·​i·​ty ˌsen(t)-sə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

plural sensibilities

1

: ability to receive sensations : sensitiveness

2

: response to a pleasurable or painful impression (as praise or criticism)

3

: the emotion or feeling of which a person is capable

Medical Definition

sensibility

noun

sen·​si·​bil·​i·​ty ˌsen(t)-sə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

plural sensibilities

1

: ability to receive sensations

sensibility to pain

2

: awareness of and responsiveness toward something (as emotion in another)