sentient

American  

[sen-shuhnt, ‐shee-uhnt, ‐tee-uhnt] / ˈsɛn ʃənt, ‐ʃi ənt, ‐ti ənt /

adjective

1. having the power of perception by the senses; conscious.

2. characterized by sensation and consciousness.

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noun

1. a person or thing that is sentient.

2. Archaic. the conscious mind.

sentient British  

/ ˈsɛntɪənt /

adjective

1. having the power of sense perception or sensation; conscious

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noun

1. rare a sentient person or thing

Other Word Forms

• nonsentient adjective
• nonsentiently adverb
• sentiently adverb
• unsentient adjective
• unsentiently adverb

Etymology

Origin of sentient

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin sentient-, stem of sentiēns “feeling,” present participle of sentīre “to feel” sense ( def. )

Example Sentences

A postcard from Pandora would showcase its floating mountains, bioluminescent forests and sentient hot-air balloons.

From Los Angeles Times

But it all goes wrong when it ends up unleashing a mysterious, sentient AI bot named NigelDave into society - "a hyper-intelligence built by humans" - flaws included.

From BBC

On the second track, “Bumpy,” what sounds like a sonic rendering of an exploding box of crayons leads to a throbbing pulse that could be a sentient computer’s ticking heart.

From The Wall Street Journal

AI chatbots shouldn’t trick people into thinking they are having conversations with sentient beings, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

From a novel starring a sentient gale-force wind, on to a memoir from a leading African American writer, this month’s titles provide illumination as we lose daylight.

From Los Angeles Times