sensuous
adjective
Did you know?
Sensuous and sensual are close in meaning but not identical, and sensuous was actually coined by the poet John Milton so that he wouldn't have to use sensual. Sensuous usually implies pleasing of the senses by art or similar means; great music, for example, can be a source of sensuous delight. Sensual, on the other hand, usually describes gratification of the senses or physical appetites as an end in itself; thus we often think (perhaps unfairly) of wealthy Romans leading lives devoted to sensual pleasure. You can see why the Puritan Milton might have wanted another word.
Synonyms
- sensational
- sensitive
- sensorial
- sensory
Example Sentences
Marykate Boylan, Town & Country, 17 Sep. 2022 Styles is the object of everyone's affection in director Michael Grandage's sensuous adaptation of a 1950s love triangle. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 12 Sep. 2022 But even then, a sensuous, feminine side had started to push through. Briana Miller | For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive, 9 Sep. 2022 Any Oscar love is likely to come for Arianne Phillips’s glamorous costumes and cinematographer Matthew Libatique’s sensuous framing. Clayton Davis, Variety, 5 Sep. 2022 From grapefruit-pink suits to double-breasted greatcoats in turmeric-colored cashmere and sensuous silk shirts in black or ivory, Sexton’s creations are nothing if not dramatic. Aleks Cvetkovic, Robb Report, 13 Aug. 2022 Baker quickly became celebrated in Paris’ cabaret scene for her sensuous singing and dancing. Barbara Spindel, The Christian Science Monitor, 20 July 2022 But these terms help to excavate the political imagination of her sensuous border crossings, and the national history behind her aesthetic of disappearance. Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 4 July 2022 The sensuous lip motif also appears on a varsity jacket, various leather bags, a key chain, and jewelry. Rosa Sanchez, Harper's BAZAAR, 28 June 2022 See More Word History
Latin sensus sense + English -ous
1640, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
sensuous
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- sensory
- sensual
- sensorial
- sensational
- sensitive
- receptive
- afferent
- sensate
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- extrasensory
- intuitional
Synonyms & Similar Words
- sensual
- voluptuous
- delicious
- pleasant
- lush
- delightful
- luxurious
- carnal
- luscious
- bodily
- pleasing
- fleshly
- corporeal
- dreamy
- pleasurable
- scrumptious
- delectable
- gratifying
- epicurean
- agreeable
- palatable
- self-indulgent
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- painful
- uncomfortable
- harsh
- disgusting
- hideous
- icky
- foul
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of sensuous are luxurious, sensual, and voluptuous. While all these words mean "relating to or providing pleasure through gratification of the senses," sensuous implies gratification of the senses for the sake of aesthetic pleasure.
While in some cases nearly identical to sensuous, luxurious suggests the indulgence of sensuous pleasure inducing bodily ease and languor.
Although the words sensual and sensuous have much in common, sensual tends to imply the gratification of the senses or the indulgence of the physical appetites as ends in themselves.
While the synonyms voluptuous and sensuous are close in meaning, voluptuous implies more strongly an abandonment especially to sensual pleasure.