INSENSATE Synonyms: 132 Similar and Opposite Words

insensate

adjective

(ˌ)in-ˈsen-ˌsāt

Definition of insensate

as in unconscious

lacking animate awareness or sensation the belief that God is immanent in all things, even insensate objects

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in ruthless

having or showing a lack of sympathy or tender feelings an insensate boss who refuses to allow time off for funerals

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 insensate 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 Realigning themselves with sophomoric virtues, the stars sell their souls in accommodation to the insensate new era. — Armond White, National Review, 28 Oct. 2020

Recent Examples of Synonyms for insensate

Adjective

Importantly, this is happening at an unconscious level, meaning that women aren’t necessarily purposefully excluded at work.

— Melissa A. Wheeler, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Officers found Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan unconscious.

— Chelsea Bailey, CNN Money, 20 July 2026

Definition of unconscious

Adjective

Then, in European culture, Christianity appeared, a religion which made an astonishing discovery, namely, that the primary cause for everything—humans, animals, nature, fertility, the inanimate world, the universe, the cosmos—could be concentrated into one single point.

— Merve Emre, New Yorker, 28 June 2026
As a result, the concept of animal rights was non-existent and people were free to treat animals like any other inanimate property.

— Rob Toews, Forbes.com, 22 June 2026

Definition of inanimate

Adjective

Regehr was relentless and merciless, and Oilers fans had to witness it over and over again.

— Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 25 July 2026
The red card was rescinded; the team was unmoored; conspiracies grew overnight, like mushrooms; and a merciless Belgium swept in and trampled, 4–1, on what remained.

— Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 17 July 2026

Definition of merciless

Adjective

Readers can judge Jane and me, deciding that one of us was unfeeling or uncomprehending.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 July 2026
As Micah so nicely puts it, there’s a narrative magnetism to Pitman’s repo encounters, many of which play out as micro-dramas of people in crisis confronting an embodied messenger of the great, unfeeling, deeply unfair American financial system.

— Austin Elias-de Jesus, New Yorker, 22 June 2026

Definition of unfeeling

Adjective

Oscar Wilde, for example, reposes beneath a hulking deity whose iconoclastic castration, back in 1961, did little to restrain pilgrims seeking to smear red lips across his stony physique.

— Emily Cox, ARTnews.com, 22 May 2026
Instead of looking like a sleek urban loft, the room can quickly start to feel cold, stony, and impersonal.

— Natasha Bazika, Martha Stewart, 9 May 2026

Definition of stony

Adjective

Ten years after losing her father to a senseless tragedy, bride Jeni Stepien walked toward her future husband, Paul Maenner, on the arm of the one man who could testify that her father’s heart was still beating.

— Staff, FOXNews.com, 20 June 2026
Despite a ticking clock that seemingly guarantees the girl’s senseless death will be discarded as a cold case, Noelle is determined to uncover the truth.

— Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 19 June 2026

Definition of senseless

Adjective

The callous economist would say, Well, food prices are really not going up that much faster than anything else.

— David Frum, The Atlantic, 22 July 2026
Although humanity’s salvation may appear to come in fits and starts, God’s healing influence always penetrates and gets through callous self-righteousness and indifference.

— Mark Swinney, Christian Science Monitor, 21 July 2026

Definition of callous

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insemination

insensate

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“Insensate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insensate. Accessed 27 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of insensate

adjective

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