Word.ws English Dictionary

sensorium

/sɛnˈsɔː.ɹi.əm/US/sɛnˈsoɹ.i.jəm/

sensorium noun: the entire sensory apparatus of an organism.

Noun

sensorium (plural sensoriums or sensoria)

  1. The entire sensory apparatus of an organism.
    • The continuum is broken, and the rise of writing helps to break up as well the continuum of the sensorium, to locate consciousness in the written word. What the written word is to the sensorium, the ego is to the entire consciousness, and the city is to the entire encirclement of nature.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 196
  2. The central part of a nervous system that receives and coordinates all stimuli.
    • […]in all injuries of the spine whereby a communication with the sensorium is cut off, it is the parts below the injury which are deprived of sensation, while those above retain their sensibility.1820, Henry Matthews, chapter VIII, in The Diary of an Invalid, London: John Murray, page 231
  3. (figuratively) The brain or mind in relation to the senses.
    • Others have conſidered infinite Space as the Receptacle, or rather the Habitation of the Almighty : But the nobleſt and moſt exalted Way of conſidering this infinite Space is that of Sir Iſaac Newton, who calls it the Senſorium of the Godhead. Brutes and Men have their Senſoriola, or little...1714 July 9, Joseph Addison, editor, The Spectator, volume VII, number 565, page 36
    • The ringing of the bell and the rap upon the door, ſtruck likewiſe ſtrong upon the ſenſorium of my uncle Toby,—but it excited a very different train of thoughts ;—the two irreconcileable pulſations inſtantly brought Stevinus, the great engineer, along with them, into my uncle Toby’s mind[…]1760, Laurence Sterne, chapter X, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 4th edition, volume II, London: R. and J. Dodsley, page 67

Forms of sensorium

pluralsensoriums
pluralsensoria

Origin of sensorium

From Late Latin sensōrium, from Latin sentiō (“feel, perceive”) + Latin -ōrium (suffix denoting a place for a particular function).

Words formed from sensorium

Questions about sensorium

What does sensorium mean?
Sensorium means the entire sensory apparatus of an organism.
What part of speech is sensorium?
Sensorium is a noun.
How do you pronounce sensorium?
Sensorium is pronounced /sɛnˈsɔː.ɹi.əm/ (UK).
What is the plural of sensorium?
The plural of sensorium is sensoriums.

Words near sensorium in the dictionary

  1. sensorineuronal
  2. sensoriperceptual
  3. sensorispecific
  4. sensoristic
  5. sensoritopic
  6. sensorium
  7. sensoriums
  8. sensorization
  9. sensorized
  10. sensorless
  11. sensorlike

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sensorium (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.

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