sentience

[ sen-shuhns ]

noun

1. sentient condition or character; capacity for sensation or feeling.

sentience

/ ˈsɛnʃəns /

noun

1. the state or quality of being sentient; awareness
2. sense perception not involving intelligence or mental perception; feeling

Other Words From

• non·sentience noun
• non·sentien·cy noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sentience¹

First recorded in 1830–40; senti(ent) + -ence

Example Sentences

Here’s Why It Could Help Save Our OceansMany of the scientists at Mosa reflexively attribute sentience to the cells they are working with, discussing their likes and dislikes as they would those of a family pet.

From Time

I’m talking about the potential for sentience in individual bees.

From Nautilus

It fills one with such a joy to see this sentience unfolding.

From Nautilus

The more easily we can explain the actions of something using the intentional stance, the more likely we are to attribute sentience to it.

From Nautilus

Some would also lasso consciousness or sentience into the requirements for an AGI.

From MIT Technology Review

Professor Smith also makes the case for future droids becoming quasi-sentient—with pre-programmed sentience, that is.

From The Daily Beast

Then that brought up the question of sentience: Is this Will Caster?

From The Daily Beast

Our sentience just cycling through our lives like carts on a track.

From The Daily Beast

They are also, I might add, invariably pre-machine- sentience societies.

From The Daily Beast

All this suggests that if they can achieve sentience, Republicans could still compete in a changing America continues changing.

From The Daily Beast

And the old car—that to us had always seemed to have a personality and sentience—had it been dreaming, too?

From Project Gutenberg

But the data of the immediate are hardly human; it is probable that at that level all sentience is much alike.

From Project Gutenberg

When the superstructures crumble, the common foundation of human sentience and imagination is exposed beneath.

From Project Gutenberg

He couldn't remain in one body more than a month: it would mean the final death of his elan, his bodiless sentience.

From Project Gutenberg

At that, the other sentience which shared the body with Mayhem snickered and lapsed into silence.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• alertness
• appreciation
• attention
• consciousness
• information
• perception
• realization
• recognition
• understanding