sensuous

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   giving pleasure to or strongly appealing to the physical senses

   The film is filled with sensuous images of silk, fruit, and candlelight.

2. 2
   adj

   relating to perception through the senses rather than to abstract thought

   The philosopher contrasted sensuous experience with pure reasoning.

From Latin sensus, "sense, perception," + -ous. John Milton introduced sensuous in the seventeenth century to distinguish what pertains to the senses from sensual, which had acquired stronger associations with appetite and sexual pleasure. The two words can still overlap in modern use.

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