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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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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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
  • Yonah described how the girls were floating unconscious in the water, their life jackets keeping them afloat, as their father—who does not know how to swim—scraped up his hands, feet and back trying to save them.
    David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 14 Aug. 2025
  • But before everything hits the fan, Nate is found unconscious, and suspicion is growing around who has committed this crime.
    Lynnette Nicholas, Parents, 14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • The invisible spray, which covers around 80 to 110 square feet, costs $119 on the Rainworks company website; the stencils range from around $5 to $30.
    Liliana Fannin, jsonline.com, 9 Aug. 2025
  • Beyond its visual beauty, the light bridge also provides a valuable probe of dark matter, the invisible substance believed to make up roughly 80% of the universe's mass.
    Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 8 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Kivel’s narration remains droll and nonchalant, practically taunting the reader, as Evie’s circumstances become more and more absurd.
    Lora Kelley, New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Despite the win leaving his wife in disbelief, the winner was nonchalant.
    Daniella Segura, Miami Herald, 4 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
  • Her choice to respond by telling me to 'shut the f*** up' and to 'calm my p*****' was vulgar, dismissive and escalated the issue entirely.
    Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025
  • As deadly wildfires raged across Southern California in January, a Los Angeles city official lamented to the city council and others how they were forced to listen to hateful, vulgar language from some members of the public.
    BrieAnna J. Frank, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Joe is willfully ignorant—to national news and a lethal pandemic—but Aster didn’t write the character as a one-dimensional MAGA standee.
    Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 17 July 2025
  • Yet Americans are surprisingly ignorant about our past.
    John C. Goodman, Forbes.com, 29 July 2025
Adjective
  • Dark matter clumps could act as stellar lampshades, drifting between Earth and distant stars, dimming them by an almost imperceptible amount, a new study suggests.
    Robert Lea, Space.com, 16 June 2025
  • As mentioned above, the crease is almost imperceptible now.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 31 July 2025
Adjective
  • Papa hasn’t gone business casual yet, but his latest outfit is noticeably less restrictive.
    Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Roots sells casual apparel, athletic gear and more, and while its headquarters is in Canada, its flagship store is in Michigan, where some Meijer stores operate.
    Meghan Hall, Sourcing Journal, 18 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Insensible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insensible. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.

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