| 释义 |
sensibilityn. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French sensibilité; Latin sensibilitat-, sensibilitas. Etymology: < (i) Middle French sensibilité (French sensibilité ) state or property of being capable of sensation (1314 in Old French), and its etymon (ii) post-classical Latin sensibilitat-, sensibilitas intelligence, perception, sensitiveness, sensation (4th cent.), meaning of words (perhaps 4th cent.) < classical Latin sensibilis sensible adj. + -tās (see -ty suffix1; compare -ity suffix). Compare Spanish sensibilidad (early 15th cent.), Italian sensibilità (14th cent. in an isolated attestation as †sensibilitade, subsequently from 17th cent.), both attested earliest in sense ‘state or property of being capable of sensation’.With the later semantic development of the English noun, compare French sensibilité in its specific senses ‘emotional attachment to or interest in a thing’ (1662), ‘compassion’ (1678), ‘feeling of gratitude’ (1680). In the specific use in sense 2b, with reference to the philosophy of Kant, after German Sinnlichkeit (already in Middle High German as sinnelīcheit in this sense). With β. forms compare β. forms at sensible adj., n., and adv. 1. the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > ability to be perceived by senses > [noun] > the objects of sense > emanations supposed to cause sensation the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > excretions > [noun] > emanations > causing sensation ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius (BL Add. 10340) (1868) v. met. iv. l. 4830 Philosophers þat hyȝten stoiciens. þat wenden þat ymages [and] sensibilites [L. sensus et imagines] þat is to sein sensible ymaginaciouns. or ellys ymaginacioun of sensible þinges weren inprentid in to soules fro bodies wiþ oute forþe. the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > ability to be perceived by senses > [noun] a1425 (?a1400) (Harl.) (1955) 9 (MED) We remowe fro hym..alle þoo þinges þat fallyn to body..as is..visibilitee, sensibilitee, & al doyng & suffryng. 1557 J. Gwynneth xxvii. f. 49v Wilt thou vnderstand the sensibilite of his [sc. Christ's] bodie, to be subiect to the sensis of men. c1616 R. C. (1871) i. 496 That's only good In their grosse braines, whose visibility And appetituall sensibility Lies open to their sence. 1654 W. Charleton iii. xv. 341 The Sensibility of a thing doth noe way præsuppose its Intelligibility. 2005 P. Phemister iii. 68 The distinction between conceivability / imaginability / essence and perceptibility / sensibility / existence lies at the root of the perceivable world. 2. the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation > a sense the world > life > biology > biological processes > immunogenesis > sensitization > [noun] > sensitivity ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac (Hunterian) f. 49v (MED) Þe þrid skille is for þei susteine oþer holden vpp þe sensibilite off þe nerues. c1425 J. Lydgate (Augustus A.iv) iii. l. 5687 Comparysownyd..To a sowle þat were vegetable, Þe whiche, with-oute sensibilite, Mynystreth lyf in herbe, flour, and tre. c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in f. 16 (MED) The vtilite of þe makynge of þe skyn & of his grete sensibilite is for þis skille: þat it schulde biclippen al þe bodi wiþoutforþ þat no sensible, noyous þing schulde greue it wiþouten witynge. a1500 (?a1425) tr. (Lamb.) 97 (MED) Þe sensibilitez of þe Eres er harkenyng of souns. 1541 T. Elyot (new ed.) 52 The sinewes which make sensibilitie, the rootes of whom are in the braine. 1656 J. Bramhall 5 Sensibility and a locomotive faculty are essentiall to every living creature. 1683 (Royal Soc.) 13 267 And perhaps the presence of Veins and Arteries in a member, is absolutely necessary to sensibility. 1773 J. Hawkesworth II. i. iv. 51 Having now been exposed to the cold and the snow near an hour and an half, some of the rest began to lose their sensibility. 1788 W. Buchan (ed. 10) ii. xlix. 609 From the delicate state of children, and the great sensibility of their organs, a vomiting or looseness may be induced by any thing that irritates the nerves of the stomach or intestines. 1802 W. Paley xxvi. 522 An increased, no less than an impaired sensibility, induces a state of disease and suffering. 1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier (abridged ed.) 16 Sensibility resides in the nervous system. 1879 (new ed.) I. 350/1 A more than normal sensibility in the retina is an inconvenience. 1942 19 Sept. 342/1 In a human finger pad, an area of acute tactile sensibility, large Meissner's corpuscles are situated in groups of two or three. 1981 38 358 (table) Range of movements, isometric muscle strength, and sensibility not reduced. 2012 25 305/2 This review provides limited evidence to support the use of..sensory relearning to improve functional sensibility after median and ulnar nerve repair. the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] > faculty of sensation the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > [noun] > distinguished from cognition and will 1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine viii. vi. 307 Sensibility is but a species of the body [L. speciemque corporis esse sensibilem]; but understanding of the life. 1728 J. Balguy 24 Sensibility seems to be as distinct from the Understanding, as the Understanding is from the Will. 1773 tr. J. P. Marat I. ii. 238 This faculty [sc. memory], combined with sensibility, understanding and will, becomes recollection and remembrance. 1838 F. Haywood tr. I. Kant i. 57 If we will term the receptivity of our mind for receiving representations..sensibility [Ger. Sinnlichkeit], so is..the faculty of itself bringing forth representations, or the Spontaneity of the cognition, the Understanding. 1858 O. W. Holmes x. 281 A man's body..is whatever is occupied by his will and his sensibility. 1945 45 p. viii Reason has..the office of serving the interests of sensibility and of seeking happiness. 1982 R. Brown & D. Bennett in I. 384 (note) The mind is composed of special faculties like sensibility, intelligence, and volition, by reference to which the individual processes of sensation, thought, and will are explained. 2014 4 87 Kant makes it clear that sensibility alone affords us intuitions, intuition being the only manner in which our knowledge immediately relates to the objects. 1663 S. Tuke i. 6 Your Story (I confess) is strangely moving; Yet if you could my Fortune weigh with yours, In Scales of equal Sensibility, You would not change your Sufferings, for mine. 1669 R. Boyle xxxviii. 127 (heading) About an attempt to examine the motions and sensibility of the Cartesian Materia subtilis, or the æther, with a pair of bellows. 1788 June 410/1 The Magnetic Needle used for those observations had been made by a Mr. Coulomb; and its sensibility is so great, that it hardly ever is found to stand motionless. 1793 J. Smeaton (ed. 2) §184 Tarras mortar made up with salt-water, might equally discover its sensibility of moisture. 1797 June 135 The accuracy of the result will depend upon the sensibility of the level. 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ 42 Thus a receptacle is given to the fluid [mercury], which would otherwise disturb the centrifugal force and impair the sensibility of the instrument. 1841 R. Hunt 3 The want of sensibility in the preparation..rendered it necessary that the prepared plate should be exposed..from seven to twelve hours. 1879 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait (new ed.) I: Pt. i. §431 The definite measure of the sensibility [of a balance] is the angle through which the beam is deflected by a stated difference between the loads in the pans. 1911 June 256/2 The observer can instantly adjust the sensibility [of the polariscope] so as to have sufficient light to polarize the darkest sugars. 1926 12 Sept. There was a possibility of using the vibrations generated by the vacuum tube to detect and measure the intensity of any earth tremors..with an extreme degree of sensibility. 1999 J. Sanchez & M. P. Canton iii. 72 The digital representation should accommodate the entire range of the instrument's sensibility so that its accuracy is preserved. 2007 177 181/1 Images were acquired with a high sensibility digital black/white AxioCam (Carl Zeiss Microlmaging, Inc.). the world > action or operation > operation upon something > [noun] > ability or liability to be affected the world > plants > by nutrition or respiration > [noun] > sensitivity to stimuli 1703 II. 450/2 If we can possibly produce some Instances of the Sensibility of Plants, we shall bid fair to prove it essential to the whole. 1731 T. Dale tr. N. Regnault III. iii. 42 This shrinking [of Fibres] contracts the Plant. And this seems to be the Principle of the Sensibility of the Sensitive Plant. 1784 (Royal Soc.) 74 417 As the two last are solstitial, and rather delicate plants, I wondered the less at their sensibility. 1846 4 July 445/3 The flowers of the Dandelion possess a certain degree of sensibility when under the powerful influence of the sun in a summer's morning; an evident motion of the flowerets may be discovered. 1880 C. Darwin & F. Darwin iii. 193 Here then we have a case of specialized sensibility, like that of the glands of Drosera. 1931 M. Grieve I. 82/1 Their stamens show remarkable sensibility when touched, springing and taking a position closely applied to the pistil. the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > [noun] the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > [noun] > state of awareness ?c1425 (c1412) T. Hoccleve (Royal 17 D.vi) (1860) 180 They erren foule, and gone out of the wey Of trouthe [printed of trouthe;] han they skant sensibilitee. 1641 sig. D The Queene speaking to him with some sensibility of the Spanish designes on France: Madam he answered, I beseech you be content. 1677 J. Webster xi. 219 There are some things that the evil Angels know of, which the blessed ones have no sensibility of. 1718 R. Fiddes I. i. vi. 271 Without some sensibility of the crime for which we suffer, the justice of God in our sufferings, will appear purely vindictive. 1759 S. Johnson No. 43. ¶7 Many who mark with such accuracy the course of time, appear to have little sensibility of the decline of life. 1870 May 165 His conceptions are useless with no sensibility of their effect. 1912 30 Aug. 4/1 It is high time that the Negroes of this community awoke to the sensibility of the fact. 2002 J. M. Doss 315 Christianity is increasingly..seen as one religion among many others without sensibility of the distinctive Christian gospel. 4. the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > sensitiveness or tenderness > [noun] 1609 I. Exod. vii. 174 (Annot.) He did not mollifie it, with sensibilitie of feare infused from aboue. 1657 J. Davies tr. V. de Voiture i. lxxxviii. 158 I do not think that passion can pretend to greater sensibility and tenderness, then what I daily feel in my self for you. 1711 J. Addison No. 231. ¶7 It [sc. modesty] is such an exquisite Sensibility, as warns a woman to shun the first appearance of every thing which is hurtful. 1759 E. Burke (ed. 2) Introd. 34 It frequently happens that a very poor judge, merely by force of a greater complexional sensibility, is more affected by a very poor piece, than the best judge by the most perfect. 1816 J. Austen II. vi. 108 More acute sensibility to fine sounds than to my feelings. View more context for this quotation 1875 W. T. Sherman II. xxiv. 395 I would define true courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to incur it. 1906 G. K. Chesterton vi. 128 His lack of sensibility to those grand rhythms of the social harmony, crudely called manners. 1919 T. S. Eliot in Sept. 55/2 It will even be affirmed that much learning deadens or perverts poetic sensibility. 1955 R. Church (1956) vi. 76 What I lacked in intellectual fibre I made up for in nervous sensibility. 2013 C. Mortimer in A. Horton & J. E. Rapf (2016) xix. 410 Mackendrick brought a sensibility to Ealing Studios, which reflected the fractured times in the wake of World War II. the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > [noun] the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > discernment, discrimination > [noun] > delicacy of > capacity for the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > [noun] > capacity for some specific emotion > capacity for refined emotion 1735 J. Miller i. 8 People of Taste and Sensibility have a higher Relish for Life. 1768 L. Sterne II. 182 Dear sensibility! source inexhausted of all that's precious in our joys, or costly in our sorrows! 1807 Ld. Byron 135 Where Affectation holds her seat, And sickly Sensibility. 1827 T. Carlyle Richter in June 188 Unless seasoned and purified by humour, sensibility is apt to run wild. 1848 W. M. Thackeray lxii. 561 This lady had the keenest and finest sensibility, and how could she be indifferent when she heard Mozart? 1981 Mar. 103 Display the keenness of your sensibility by deploring the banality of Italian opera, contemporary architecture and The New York Review of Books. 5. In plural. the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > [noun] > emotional capacities the mind > emotion > [noun] > emotions or feelings 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. J. L. G. de Balzac 36 It is fitting that reason conuince our sensibilities [Fr. sentiment], causing vs to agree to what is otherwise distastefull vnto vs. 1681 F. Spence tr. J. de la Chapelle 163 Sensibilities that tender Lovers may easily imagine, but which can never be well described. 1744 M. Collyer xiv. 170 Such tender joys, such delicate sensibilities of happiness. 1791 tr. J. G. Zimmermann iv. 278 The sensibilities of his heart resign themselves to the sentiments of his mind. 1858 O. W. Holmes xii. 329 Something intensely human, narrow, and definite pierces to the seat of our sensibilities more readily than huge occurrences and catastrophes. 1892 A. Bierce 109 Doubtless this feeling was due to his unusually acute sensibilities—his keen sense of the beautiful, which these hideous things outraged. 1939 N. Marsh ii. 27 She was..so determined that any sensibilities she possessed were held in the vice of her will. 1999 S. Orbach (2000) 160 An intimacy..can become derailed by a fear of the very charms, opinions, thoughts and sensibilities that drew the two people together initially. the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > touchiness > [noun] 1767 T. Gray Let. 17 Dec. in (1971) III. 980 I wish, he would not give too much way to his own sensibilities; & still less (in this case) to the sensibilities of other people. 1778 J. Laurens in J. Sparks (1853) II. 203 The Count's sensibility was much wounded. 1806 J. Beresford I. vii. 161 Grating the sensibility, the prepossessions, the self-love, the vanity &c. of the person to whom you are speaking, by some unguarded words. 1855 W. H. Prescott I. ii. i. 381 The sensibilities of a commercial people. 1937 E. Pyle in 1 Jan. 15/1 My fine New England sensibilities are continually outraged by the great American yen to carve, paint, whittle, write, or scratch your name..on anything available at any sightseeing place. 1957 L. P. Hartley vii. 59 What she saw and heard offended her: it rasped her tender unused sensibility. 2000 A. Bourdain (2001) 130 I did my best to..behave in such a way as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of my very kindly new masters. †6. the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > emotional perception > [noun] 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. J. L. G. de Balzac 133 The sensibility [Fr. ressentiment] I haue of your noble fauours. 1658 J. Webb tr. G. de Costes de La Calprenède ii. 76 Our sensibility of his losse might make us say that he passed from us so swift as lightning. 1751 Earl of Orrery (ed. 5) iii. 21 The treatment was thought injurious, and Swift expressed his sensibility of it in a short, but satyrical copy of verses entitled The Discovery. 1768 H. Brooke III. xiii. 38 I am very sensible..of your friendship.., and that sensibility constitutes..my happiness. 1818 Lady Charleville in Lady Morgan (1859) 244 I will only speak of my real sensibility of Sir Charles's kind politeness. 1841 tr. M. Lafarge II. i. 8 Expressing my sensibility of good intentions. 1900 G. Meredith 7 Sept. (1970) III. 1361 Suppose him to see me publicly declare my sensibility of the delicious flattery poured on me. the mind > emotion > gratitude > [noun] the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > touchiness > [noun] > feelings 1753 S. Richardson IV. xxii. 166 I cannot speak my grateful sensibilities. 1788 4 163/1 I cannot say I am at any loss, in regard to the affectionate sensibilities of a very thankful heart. 1827 19 405 The King's visit to Ireland inspired the patriotism of her poets with grateful sensibilities. the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous act or expression > [noun] the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > respect > [noun] > gracious or considerate > a mark of 1795 J. Dalrymple 9 Every sensibility that we can shew to our brave Officers and Seamen..is too little for what they do for us. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  n.?c1400 |
