insensate

[ in-sen-seyt, -sit ]

adjective

1. not endowed with sensation; inanimate:

   insensate stone.

   Synonyms: inorganic, lifeless

2. without human feeling or sensitivity; cold; cruel; brutal.

   Synonyms: insensible

3. without sense, understanding, or judgment; foolish.

   Synonyms: dumb, witless, senseless, irrational, stupid

insensate

/ -sɪt; ɪnˈsɛnseɪt /

adjective

1. lacking sensation or consciousness
2. insensitive; unfeeling
3. foolish; senseless

Derived Forms

• inˈsensately, adverb
• inˈsensateness, noun

Other Words From

• in·sensate·ly adverb
• in·sensate·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of insensate¹

First recorded in 1510–20, insensate is from the Late Latin word insēnsātus irrational. See in- ³, sensate

Example Sentences

Speaking personally, the terror-fueled adrenaline dump that would have ensued after I read that very first “Do not answer” would have reduced me to an insensate lump.

From New York Times

It was reptilian, insensate, Coleridge’s monster of “motiveless malignity.”

From New York Times

In the highest-profile case, four Oklahoma prisoners contended that using midazolam constituted cruel and unusual punishment because it “fails to render a person insensate to pain.”

From Scientific American

“But if midazolam is not capable of maintaining that insensate state, we may well be producing the same feeling in the person being executed.”

From New York Times

Supreme Court, have maintained that the use of midazolam as the first in a three-drug protocol is likely to render an inmate insensate to pain.

From Seattle Times