sensuous

[ sen-shoo-uhs ]

adjective

1. gratifying the senses:

   You can wear your denim jacket, but the sensuous look and feel of a velvet blazer will elevate your outfit.

2. readily affected through the senses; sensual; physical:

   a sensuous temperament;

   a sensuous young man.

   Synonyms: sensitive, feeling, voluptuous, luxurious, luscious, palatable, pleasurable, pleasing, pleasant, gratifying

3. of or relating to the senses or objects that can be perceived by the senses; sensory; material:

   His observations based on sensuous experience seem self-evident, but the subsequent speculations are far-fetched.

   Aristotelian scholarly tradition subjected the sensuous qualities of music to mathematical and metaphysical analysis.

sensuous

/ ˈsɛnsjʊəs /

adjective

1. aesthetically pleasing to the senses
2. appreciative of or moved by qualities perceived by the senses
3. of, relating to, or derived from the senses

Derived Forms

• ˈsensuousness, noun
• ˈsensuously, adverb

Other Words From

• sen·su·ous·ly adverb
• sen·su·ous·ness sen·su·os·i·ty [sen-shoo-, os, -i-tee], noun
• an·ti·sen·su·ous adjective
• an·ti·sen·su·ous·ness noun
• hy·per·sen·su·ous adjective
• hy·per·sen·su·ous·ness noun
• non·sen·su·ous adjective
• non·sen·su·ous·ness noun
• sub·sen·su·ous adjective
• sub·sen·su·ous·ness noun
• su·per·sen·su·ous adjective
• su·per·sen·su·ous·ness noun
• un·sen·su·ous adjective
• un·sen·su·ous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensuous¹

First recorded in 1630–40; from Latin sēnsus “sensation, feeling, any of the five senses, awareness”; sense, -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensuous¹

C17: apparently coined by Milton to avoid the unwanted overtones of sensual ; not in common use until C19: from Latin sēnsus sense + -ous

Synonym Study

See sensual.

Example Sentences

Smith's sensuous delivery was a subversive step forward for country music but Kristofferson's own version - croaky-voiced and dripping with hunger - is just as much of a thrill.

From BBC

Tinashe's song became a viral sensation in April, when its sensuous groove was superimposed on a video of bespectacled British dancer Nate de Winer.

From BBC

We find ourselves in that time of year dedicated to the most sensuous and worldly of the earth signs — that is, Taurus season.

From Los Angeles Times

Nicely supported by a sprawling cast of other good lookers and hard workers, these three are among the draws in a movie that understands the seductions of beauty, the sensuous lines of a human body, the curves of a chassis.

From New York Times

In the late 1960s and early ’70s, Alan Saret’s delicately chaotic sculptures and drawings — sensuous tangles of wire and whorls of colored pencil — were part of the cerebral work promoted at Bykert, the short-lived but influential gallery that provided wide latitude to post-Minimalist artists like Brice Marden and Lynda Benglis.

From New York Times

Related Words

• lush
• sensual
• voluptuous