sensibility
noun
Did you know?
The meanings of sensibility run the gamut from mere sensation to excessive sentimentality, but we’re here to help you make sense of it all. 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
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 9 Feb. 2026
That sensibility speaks to the broader way people are engaging with scent right now.
—Conçetta Ciarlo, Vogue, 9 Feb. 2026
The movie has an immersive period sensibility.
—Los Angeles Times, 9 Feb. 2026
But it’s filtered through her sensibility, which is contemporary.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sensibility
Cite this Entry
“Sensibility.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sensibility. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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sensibility
noun
Medical Definition
sensibility
noun
