sensory

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈsɛnsəri/ UK /ˈsɛnsəri/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
relating to sensation or the physical senses

The exhibit offered a rich sensory experience of sound and scent.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · relating to sensation or... sensorialperceptual sensual

Opposites

insensate

Word family

Forms sensorial

Related forms sense sensation sensitivesensorial

Simplified etymology

Sensory, recorded from the early 17th century, ultimately derives from Latin sentire, “to feel or perceive.” It belongs to the same historical word family as sense, sensation, sensible, sensitive, sentence, and scent.

Etymology

From Latin sensorius, from sensus ('feeling, perception'), the past participle of sentire ('to feel, perceive').

sensus Latin sentire Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# sensory

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɛnsəri/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɛnsəri/

## Meanings
1. relating to sensation or the physical senses

## Examples
- The exhibit offered a rich sensory experience of sound and scent.

## Synonyms
- sensorial
- perceptual
- sensual

## Antonyms
- insensate

## Related Forms
- sense
- sensation
- sensitive
- sensorial

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sensus
- Root: sentire
- Affix: -ory - relating to

## Etymology
From Latin sensorius, from sensus ('feeling, perception'), the past participle of sentire ('to feel, perceive').

## AI Etymology
Sensory comes from Latin sensorius, from sensus ('feeling, perception'), the past participle of sentire ('to feel, perceive'). The historical chain includes Latin sensus and Latin sentire. Older glosses in the chain include "feeling, perception" and "to feel, perceive", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, sensory is best read as borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "relating to sensation or the physical senses". related forms include sense, sensation, sensitive, and sensorial. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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