sensibility
noun
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The meanings of sensibility run the gamut from mere sensation to excessive sentimentality. 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."
Examples of sensibility in a Sentence
Garret K. Woodward, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2024
The application was later allowed to return, providing its content moderation was in line with Bangladesh’s cultural sensibilities.
—Anna Gordon, TIME, 25 Apr. 2024
What readers are really paying for is Mr. Foster’s sensibility.
—Steven Kurutz Steven Kurutz, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2024
On Sunday, fans of Waters’ outrageous sensibility turned out to see how his first two fast-and-loose experimental films might forecast where his career was headed.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 8 Apr. 2024
In the novel, the Captain’s medium is his message: his lyrically reproachful narration betrays his bourgeois sensibility and jaded world view.
—Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
Those who remained answered a list of 42 questions that offered a sketch of their professional lives, media diets and political sensibilities.
—Kate Christobek, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2024
Israel and the Gulf states might harbor doubts about Donald Trump’s reliability, but the combination of his quasi-isolationist sensibilities and his affection for authoritarian leaders would ease U.S. pressure on a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and other discomfiting issues.
—Steven Simon, Foreign Affairs, 9 Apr. 2024
The series percolated with the idiosyncratic sensibilities of its creators like few before it, unafraid to digress from the obligations of conventional plotting in order to indulge in pure storytelling, character development, imagery and atmosphere.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 8 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sensibility.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near sensibility
Cite this Entry
“Sensibility.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sensibility. Accessed 2 May. 2024.
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