Word.ws English Dictionary

sensate

/ˈsɛn.seɪt/

sensate adjective: perceived by one or more of the senses.

Adjective

sensate (comparative more sensate, superlative most sensate)

  1. Perceived by one or more of the senses.
  2. Having the ability to sense things physically.
    • Mendicant was able to postpone its inevitable annihilation for [106:S] with its attempt to flee. But the last of its core vessels hangs before me now; crippled and defeated but still sensate.2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Terminal Six (Legendary)
  3. Felt or apprehended through a sense, or the senses.
    • To say that Volitions which are acts of the Intellectual Soul must be sensate, and so make a Species on the phantasie, as sensate things do1689, Richard Baxter, A treatise of knowledge and love compared in two parts

Verb

sensate (third-person singular simple present sensates, present participle sensating, simple past and past participle sensated)

  1. (transitive) To feel or apprehend by means of the senses; to perceive.
    • to sensate light, or an odour
    • As those of the one are enated by the ear, so those of the other are by the eye.c. 1673, Robert Hooke, quoted in The History of the Royal Society of London

Forms of sensate

Adjective
comparativemore sensate
superlativemost sensate
Verb
third-person singular presentsensates
present participlesensating
past participlesensated
pastsensated

Origin of sensate

From Middle English sensat, from Late Latin sensatus (“able to sense”), from sensus (“sense”).

Words formed from sensate

Questions about sensate

What does sensate mean?
Sensate means perceived by one or more of the senses.
What part of speech is sensate?
Sensate can be an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce sensate?
Sensate is pronounced /ˈsɛn.seɪt/.

Words near sensate in the dictionary

  1. Sensabaugh
  2. Sensabaughs
  3. sensable
  4. sensactor
  5. sensactors
  6. sensate
  7. sensated
  8. sensately
  9. sensates
  10. sensating
  11. sensation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sensate (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-sensate.wav.

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