Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Sentient
Sen′ti-ent
,Adj.
Having a faculty, or faculties, of sensation and perception.
Specif.
(Physiol.)
, especially sensitive;
as, the
. sentient
extremities of nerves, which terminate in the various organs or tissuesSen′ti-ent
,Noun.
One who has the faculty of perception; a sentient being.
Webster 1828 Edition
Sentient
SENTIENT
,Adj.
Definition 2024
sentient
sentient
English
Adjective
sentient (comparative more sentient, superlative most sentient)
- Experiencing sensation, thought, or feeling.
- Able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties.
- (chiefly in science fiction) Possessing human-like awareness and intelligence.
Synonyms
- (able to perceive): sensate
- (human-like awareness): intelligent, sapient, self-aware
Antonyms
- (able to perceive): insensate
Translations
experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling
science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence
conscious or aware
Noun
sentient (plural sentients)
- Lifeform with the capability to feel sensation, such as pain.
- (chiefly science fiction) An intelligent, self-aware being.
- 1965, Farmer, Philip José, The Maker of Universes:
- The merpeople and the sentients who lived on the beach often hitched rides on these creatures, steering them by pressure on exposed nerve centers.
-
Synonyms
- (self-aware being): see Wikisaurus:sentient
References
- Jeff Prucher, editor (2007) Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-530567-8, pages 180–81
- sentient adj. at the OED Science Fiction Citations Project
- sentient n. at the OED Science Fiction Citations Project