Word.ws English Dictionary

sapient

Syllables: sap·i·ent/ˈseɪ.pi.ənt//ˈseɪ.pi.ənt/

sapient adjective: possessing discernment and wisdom; learned, wise.

Adjective

sapient (comparative more sapient, superlative most sapient)

  1. (formal, dated except poetic) Possessing discernment and wisdom; learned, wise.
    • [To Edgar] Come ſit thou here moſt learned Iuſtice / [To the Fool] Thou ſapient ſir ſit here, […]c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […]...
    • Spot more delicious then thoſe Gardens feign’d / Or of reviv’d Adonis, or renovvnd / Alcinous, hoſt of old Laertes Son [Odysseus], / Or that, not Myſtic, vvhere the Sapient King [Solomon] / Held dalliance vvith his faire Egyptian Spouſe.1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature...
  2. (broadly, derogatory, ironic) Attempting to appear discerning or wise.
    • Novv tell me, dignified and ſapient ſir, / My man of morals, nurtur'd in the ſhades / Of Academus, is this falſe or true?1785, William Cowper, “Book II. The Time-piece.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, pages 72–73
    • VVell! but a leſſening of prodigal expences, and the œconomy vvhich has been introduced by the virtuous and ſapient aſſembly, makes amends for the loſſes ſuſtained in the receipt of revenue.1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page...
  3. (broadly, rare) Followed by of: aware or knowledgeable of.
  4. (broadly) Of a lifeform or species: possessing intelligence or a high degree of self-awareness.
    • When EXPLORATION blazed through space / The first sky-trail to far-flung stars, / And found men, sapient, on Mars, / He gained renown's most honored place.1935 February, Bob Olsen, “Who Deserves Credit?”, in T[homas] O’Conor Sloane, editor, Amazing Stories, volume 9, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Teck Publishing Corporation, →OCLC, stanza I, page 81
    • It was inhabited by a sapient humanoid race, and some of them were civilized enough to put it in Class V, and Colonial Office doctrine on Class V planets was rigid.1962 January, H[enry] Beam Piper, “Naudsonce”, in John W[ood] Campbell, editor, Analog Science Fact and Science Fiction, volume 68, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →OCLC, page 9...
    Antonyms:
    nonsapient
  5. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Homo sapiens (modern human beings).
  6. (obsolete, rare) Having a (good) flavour or taste; sapid.

Noun

sapient (plural sapients)

  1. (archaic except humorous) A wise person; a sage.
    • "She canna do that," said another sapient of the same profession— […]1827, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in Chronicles of the Canongate; […], volume I (The Two Drovers), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, pages...
  2. (broadly) An intelligent, self-aware being.
    • Every since Trausti had shown him the X-rays, Leif had a theory that Halla Dannto was of non-Earth origin. It seemed to him a possibility that the Cold War Corps of March might have contacted hitherto unknown sapients on some just discovered interstellar planet, and were using them in the cold war...1960, Philip José Farmer, chapter 6, in A Woman a Day (A Galaxy Magazine Prize Science Fiction Selection; Galaxy Novel; number 43; Beacon Book; number 291), New York, N.Y.: Beacon Books, page 30
  3. A human being of the species Homo sapiens.

sapient meaning in Tamil and Persian

sapient in Tamil

அறிவுடைய, அறிவுள்ளதுபோல் நடிக்கிற

sapient in Persian

possessing discernment and wisdom — see also learned, wise
فرزانه farzâne

Examples of sapient in a sentence

  • What is it but a vain and curious skill, / If sapient Germany must lie deprest, / Beneath the brutal sword?1809 November 16, William Wordsworth, “[Sonnets Dedicated to Liberty. Part Second.] Sonnet X.”, in Poems […], volume II, London: […]...
  • She had five or six cows; but it was observed by her sapient neighbours that she sold more butter every year than other farmers' wives who had twenty.1839, “Bewitched Butter (Queen’s County)”, in W[illiam] B[utler] Yeats, editor, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (The Camelot...
  • Another way my sapient Guide conduct me / Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; / And to a place I come where nothing shines.1867, Dante Alighieri, “Canto IV”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., The Divine Comedy, volume I (Inferno), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor...
  • I think I seem them at their work—these sapient trouble-tombs.1833, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading”, in The Last Essays of Elia. […], London: Edward Moxon, […]...

Synonyms of sapient

13 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of sapient

Forms of sapient

Adjective
comparativemore sapient
superlativemost sapient
Noun
pluralsapients

Origin of sapient

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English sapient (“learned, wise”), from Old French sapient, or from its etymon Latin sapient-, a stem of sapiēns (“(adjective) discerning, judicious, wise; (noun) wise man, sage”), the present active participle of sapiō (“to have a flavour of, taste like; (figurative) to have good taste; to have discernment or sense; to be prudent, sensible, or wise”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁p-, *sep- (“to taste; to try out”). Doublet of savant. The noun is derived from the adjective, and also influenced by Latin sapiēns (noun) (see above).

Words formed from sapient

Questions about sapient

What does sapient mean?
Sapient means possessing discernment and wisdom; learned, wise.
What is sapient in Tamil?
Sapient in Tamil is அறிவுடைய, அறிவுள்ளதுபோல் நடிக்கிற. See Sapient meaning in Tamil.
How do you use sapient in a sentence?
What is it but a vain and curious skill, / If sapient Germany must lie deprest, / Beneath the brutal sword?
What part of speech is sapient?
Sapient can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce sapient?
Sapient is pronounced /ˈseɪ.pi.ənt/ (UK).

Words near sapient in the dictionary

  1. sapiencies
  2. sapiency
  3. sapienic acid
  4. sapienization
  5. sapiens
  6. sapient
  7. sapientes
  8. sapiential
  9. sapientially
  10. sapientious
  11. sapientisation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sapient (page history and authors); sapient (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sapient.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-sapient.wav.

Cite this entry: “sapient.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sapient. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.