sentient

adjective

sen·tient ˈsen(t)-sh(ē-)ənt

ˈsen-tē-ənt

: responsive to or conscious of sense impressions

sentient beings

: aware

: finely sensitive in perception or feeling

sentiently adverb

Did you know?

You may have guessed that sentient has something to do with the senses. The initial spelling sent- or sens- is often a giveaway for such a meaning. A sentient being is one who perceives and responds to sensations of whatever kind—sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. Sentient ultimately comes from the Latin verb sentire, which means "to feel" or "to perceive," and is related to the noun sensus, meaning "sense." A few related English words are sentiment and sentimental, which have to do with emotions, sensual, which relates to more physical sensations, and the trio of assent, consent, and dissent, which involve one's expressions of agreement (or disagreement in the case of dissent) in thought and feeling with another.

Example Sentences

sentient of the danger posed by the approaching hurricane

Recent Examples on the Web Cyberbullying mashed potatoes for not being sentient.

Colin Stokes, The New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2022 Asking what constitutes justice for sentient animals, Nussbaum explores the question of death as a harm.

Sasha Frere-jones, Harper’s Magazine , 9 Nov. 2022 Animal play is one piece of the puzzle when determining whether a group of animals is sentient—whether its members have inner feelings and experiences.

Grace Van Deelen, Scientific American, 27 Oct. 2022 The players are the townspeople trying to push back against various inhuman threats, like sentient plants or space aliens.

Rachel Rothman, Good Housekeeping, 18 Nov. 2022 Centuries after a race of sentient robots left, one returns.

Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2022 In that Stephen King adaptation, Keith Gordon plays Arnie Cunningham (who shares a surname with Corey), a high schooler that devotes himself to a sentient Plymouth Fury and begins to kill for his vehicular girlfriend.

J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 19 Oct. 2022 What if our worst nightmare comes true, and a sentient AI is given access to resources and a large network?

Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 14 Oct. 2022 His performance alongside a 50-piece orchestra at the Dolby Theatre on October 9 was a sentient reminder of this.

Rachel Narozniak, Billboard, 10 Oct. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sentient.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.