sentient

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 13, 2024 is:

sentient • \SEN-shee-unt\ • adjective

Sentient is a formal term that typically describes beings conscious of or responsive to the sensations of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, or smelling.

// An avid gardener, Dorothy has recently been absorbed in books that examine the question of whether, and to what degree, plants are sentient.

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Examples:

"In other scenes in which Vesta isn’t messy and cruel, it looks uncanny, as so much of it feels constructed by sentient life even though the planet is untouched by humans. As the show moves from parched flatlands to savannas and tropical forests, there are intrusions on familiar scenery, like crystalline rivers or smooth stone structures, some of which pulse and breathe like a living thing." — Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 31 May 2024

Did you know?

You may have guessed that sentient has something to do with the senses. The initial spelling sent- or sens- is often a giveaway for such a meaning. A sentient being is one who perceives or responds to sensations of whatever kind—sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. Sentient ultimately comes from the Latin verb sentire, which means "to feel" or "to perceive." (The Latin noun sensus means "sense.") A few related English words that descend from the same Latin root are sentiment and sentimental, which have to do with emotions, sensual, which relates to more physical sensations, and the trio of assent, consent, and dissent, which involve expressions of agreement (or disagreement in the case of dissent) in thought and feeling with another.