SENSIBLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sensible mean? 

• SENSIBLE (adjective)
  The adjective SENSIBLE has 4 senses:

1. showing reason or sound judgment

2. able to feel or perceive

3. readily perceived by the senses

4. aware intuitively or intellectually of something sensed

  Familiarity information: SENSIBLE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SENSIBLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Showing reason or sound judgment

Synonyms:

reasonable; sensible

Context example:

a sensible person

Similar:

commonsense; commonsensible; commonsensical (exhibiting native good judgment)

healthy; intelligent; level-headed; levelheaded; sound (exercising or showing good judgment)

tenable; well-founded (based on sound reasoning or evidence)

Also:

fair; just (free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules)

logical (capable of or reflecting the capability for correct and valid reasoning)

rational (consistent with or based on or using reason)

valid (well grounded in logic or truth or having legal force)

Attribute:

reasonableness (goodness of reason and judgment)

Derivation:

sensibleness (the quality of showing good sense or practical judgment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Able to feel or perceive

Synonyms:

sensible; sensitive

Context example:

the more sensible parts of the skin

Also:

aware; cognisant; cognizant ((sometimes followed by 'of') having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception)

conscious (knowing and perceiving; having awareness of surroundings and sensations and thoughts)

sensitive (responsive to physical stimuli)

Antonym:

insensible (incapable of physical sensation)

Derivation:

sense (perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles)

sensibility ((physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation)

sensibility (mental responsiveness and awareness)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Readily perceived by the senses

Context example:

a sensible odor

Similar:

perceptible (capable of being perceived by the mind or senses)

Derivation:

sense (perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles)

sensibility ((physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Aware intuitively or intellectually of something sensed

Context example:

sensible that a good deal more is still to be done

Similar:

aware; cognisant; cognizant ((sometimes followed by 'of') having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception)

Derivation:

sense (become aware of not through the senses but instinctively)

sensibleness (the quality of showing good sense or practical judgment)

 Context examples 

My aunt is acting like a sensible woman in wishing for you.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“He writes like a sensible man,” replied Emma, when she had read the letter.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He stood considering me some minutes; then added, "She looks sensible, but not at all handsome."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Be as soft as a mouse, or the Cat'll hear us.” I understood this to mean Miss Murdstone, and was sensible of the urgency of the case; her room being close by.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He is undoubtedly a sensible man, and in his manners perfectly the gentleman.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I don't want to take what you call 'a sensible view'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

My heart bled for you, as I talked of happiness; and yet he is sensible, he is agreeable, and with such a woman as you, it was not absolutely hopeless.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Mary wished to say something sensible, but knew not how.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I was not in the least sensible of the progressive motion made in the air by the island.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The first three sensible words that you have uttered since you entered this room, Watson.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)