1
as in inanimate
lacking animate awareness or sensation
refused to believe that the universe as we know it evolved from the random interactions of insentient particles of matter
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in imperceptive
not having or showing a deep understanding of something
an insentient therapist who failed to see what the teenager's real problem was
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of insentient
This is partly because the loss of insentient machinery, no matter how expensive, is easier to stomach than the death of an aircrew.
—
Lauren Kahn, Foreign Affairs, 6 June 2023
But its shortcomings are essentially those of the novel: its single-track didacticism; its neat pitting of romantic idealists against macho, insentient normies; and the fact that a decisive plot twist can be spotted a mile off.
—Houman Barekat, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2023
Genes are insentient things and cannot be said to have any kind of purposeful selfish or unselfish behavior.
—Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2017
Lauren Kahn, Foreign Affairs, 6 June 2023
But its shortcomings are essentially those of the novel: its single-track didacticism; its neat pitting of romantic idealists against macho, insentient normies; and the fact that a decisive plot twist can be spotted a mile off.
—Houman Barekat, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2023
Genes are insentient things and cannot be said to have any kind of purposeful selfish or unselfish behavior.
—Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insentient
Adjective
-
The fabric maven muses about how inanimate things receive memories.—
Robert Sullivan,
Vogue,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Even Lander Lil, an inanimate bronze statue of a prairie dog located in Wyoming tasked by locals with a similar weather-prediction role, has a higher prediction rate than Phil, with 75% accuracy.—
Chris Barilla,
PEOPLE,
2 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Echoing the decade's sleek silhouettes, Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell wound their manes into taut high ponytails that emphasized their chiseled features; the former securing hers with scrunchie, and the latter wrapping a section around the elastic to imperceptive effect.—
Lauren Valenti,
Vogue,
19 Aug. 2021
Adjective
-
Firefighters pulled the unconscious victim from his apartment and medics rushed him to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens but he could not be saved, police said.—
Rocco Parascandola,
New York Daily News,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Destiny and Shawn Jackson said the gas left their baby unconscious and foaming at the mouth, and that strangers and local law enforcement helped them while the feds stood in the way.—
WCCO Staff,
CBS News,
16 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
But maybe Johnson isn’t stupid.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Even in contemporary political and intellectual discourse, there remains an attachment to a particular stupid southern conservatism, the ideocratic confederacy.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Feb. 2026
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
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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
-
Memory, conveyed by an unperceptive, mechanically flowing camera, seems disconnected from culture.—
Armond White,
National Review,
19 Nov. 2021
-
He could not be seen, just as the little black boy was not seen, or was seen inaccurately, by the unperceptive and disdainful white boy.—
Louise Glück,
The New York Review of Books,
14 Jan. 2021
Adjective
-
These apps often default to a faster, dumber model.—
Matt Shumer,
Fortune,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Who, other than dumb people like me, are gonna recruit high school kids?—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
That’s a risk that seems deeply unwise.—
Julian Baron,
Baltimore Sun,
16 Feb. 2026
-
In fact, the doctor shortage has led to unwise remedies such as overreliance on PAs.—
Betsy McCaughey,
Boston Herald,
8 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Insentient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insentient. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
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