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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 Or lobbyists can sometimes intervene and gain insensible exemptions from bans. IEEE Spectrum, 10 Feb. 2024 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
  • Daniel, having fallen off the side of a mountain on a rock-climbing trip with Cherry, is in the hospital, unconscious and fighting for his life.
    Judy Berman, Time, 10 Sep. 2025
  • As Daniel lies unconscious and broken in a hospital bed, the doctors warn Laura and her husband, Howard (Waleed Zuaiter), that their son probably won’t make it.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The final result needed to be invisible, weightless, scentless, and makeup-gripping, all of which were achieved with flying colors—actually, with no color at all since the formula is completely clear on all skin tones.
    Sophia Panych, Allure, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Those choices form the invisible curriculum that influences how students think, collaborate, and eventually lead as professionals and citizens.
    Sarah Hernholm, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Warren, in his typically nonchalant fashion, downplayed his early impact in the Colts’ offense.
    James Boyd, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Faced with punishment from school administrators, Westman appeared alternately nervous and nonchalant, the former employee said.
    Tim Stelloh, NBC news, 29 Aug. 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
  • The book is filled with vulgar pictures, with many faces blacked out, and messages both handwritten and typed from well-wishers for Epstein’s 50th birthday.
    Joey Garrison, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2025
  • The biopic is the vulgar but necessary tribute inherently populist cinema pays to more traditional, higher-brow art.
    Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The league might be skeptical that the Clippers were merely ignorant of the Aspiration-Leonard relationship and question why the team didn’t undertake more diligence.
    Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Conversations that would’ve otherwise been fun and intellectually stimulating will start to feel childish and ignorant.
    Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • What are the imperceptible clues that signal your job is in jeopardy?
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Yet for all the focus now on the technology’s effects on jobs or geopolitics, what unsettles Altman most are the subtle, almost imperceptible cultural shifts that spread when millions of people interact with the same system every day.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 11 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Streaming platforms have blurred the line between prestige drama and casual binge.
    Vibhas Ratanjee, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
  • Ranging in sizes 4 Petite to 24 Plus, this casual yet classy dress features button cuff sleeves, a flattering tie closure, and over a dozen colors to choose from.
    Mariana Best, Better Homes & Gardens, 14 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Insensible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insensible. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.

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