sensibility
/ˌsɛnsɪˈbɪlɪti
/noun (plural sensibilities) [mass noun]
1The quality of being able to appreciate and respond to complex emotional or aesthetic influences; sensitivity: the study of literature leads to a growth of intelligence and sensibility...
- Those of us who knew this other Clyde, this man of strong emotional sensibility, are grateful for the experience.
- Chinese artists show unique sensibility and emotion in their observation.
- As it was, there was absolutely no aesthetic sensibility at work whatsoever.
Synonyms
sensitivity, sensitiveness, finer feelings, delicacy, subtlety, taste, discrimination, discernment;
understanding, insight, empathy, appreciation, awareness of the feelings of others;
feeling, intuition, intuitiveness, responsiveness, receptivity, receptiveness, perceptiveness, awareness
1.1 (sensibilities) A quality of delicate sensitivity that makes one liable to be offended or shocked: the scale of the poverty revealed by the survey shocked people’s sensibilities...
- That is, of course, when it doesn't offend people's delicate sensibilities.
- Is the frontier a little too foreign and rough to your delicate Eastern sensibilities?
- No one, as far as I am aware, threatened to sue her for wounding their delicate sensibilities.
Synonyms
feelings, emotions, finer feelings, delicate sensitivity, sensitivities, susceptibilities, moral sense, sense of outrage
2 Zoology, dated Sensitivity to sensory stimuli.He knew full well that his friend was beginning to lose his sensibility but the pain still had a bitter sting....
- Threshold tests of sensibility correlated accurately with symptoms of nerve compression.
Origin
Late Middle English (denoting the power of sensation): from late Latin sensibilitas, from sensibilis 'that can be perceived by the senses' (see sensible).