senˈsāshən, sənˈ- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Medieval Latin sensation-, sensatio, from Late Latin sensatus endowed with sense + Latin -ion-, -io -ion
1.
a. : a state of consciousness produced by impingement of an external object or condition upon the body
b. : a mode of mental functioning referable to immediate stimulation of the body from without ; often : such a mode of mental functioning as distinguished from the conscious awareness of the process
c. : the direct, immediate, and not further analyzable awareness (as of heat or pain) resulting from adequate stimulation of a receptor organ in a living organism
d.
(1) : awareness endopsychic in origin and not the immediate result of sensory stimulation
(2) : a state of consciousness of a kind usually caused by physical objects or internal bodily changes but having no physical source
2.
a. : a more or less indefinite bodily feeling
b. : a particular emotional feeling
3.
a. : an internal organic stimulus
b. : a physical object or something that provides awareness of a physical object
c. : an object (as an afterimage or hallucination) of an endopsychic process of sensation
4.
a.
(1) : a state of excited interest or feeling
his death created quite a sensation
(2) : the cause of such a state
the new soprano was the sensation of the season
b. : a vivid emotion or experience attended by excitement
5. : the use of sensational matter or the evoking of sensational reactions as an effect in art
Synonyms:
sense , feeling , sensibility : sensation , as here discussed, may center attention on perception through or as if through the sense organs, with or without comprehension, cognition, or other intellectual or emotional reaction
now that he was by her side, she felt his nearness intimately, like a touch. She tried to disregard this sensation — Joseph Conrad
the sweet sensations of returning health made me happy for a time; but such sensations seldom outlast convalescence — W.H.Hudson †1922
still he would drink, only instead of port it must be brandy to lash his flagging palate into sensation — Virginia Woolf
sense may indicate only a sensation or sensory perception; it may indicate a more intellectual cognition marked by full awareness or consciousness
his first consciousness was a sense of the light dry wind blowing in through the windows — Willa Cather
never since the age of seven had he been able to look on feminine beauty without a sense of warmth and faint excitement — John Galsworthy
solaced, even in your chagrin, by a sense of injured innocence — B.N.Cardozo
feeling may indicate the sense of touch, along with awareness to pressure and temperature; it may indicate a complex of sensation, emotion, and thought experienced as a reaction to a situation
some people itch more easily than others because their threshold for feeling in the skin is lower than that of other people — Morris Fishbein
a deep sensation of cold, compounded with deep pressure — in short, a numb feeling — persisted even when the skin itself had ceased to deliver the sensation of cold — R.S.Woodworth
it wasn't raining but there was the feeling of its being a rainy night — R.H.Newman
serious danger that a feeling of futility and despair would spread over the continent like a creeping paralysis — Vera M. Dean
sensibility may suggest power to respond, often a capacity for delicate appreciation or a lively responsiveness to impression, sometimes sentimental, forced, or affected
the extreme sensibility to physical suffering which characterizes modern civilization — W.R.Inge
she was a creature of palpitating sensibility, with feelings so delicate that they responded to every breath — S.M.Crothers