Meanings
comparative more insentient · superlative most insentient
- Having no consciousness or feeling; inanimate.
[O]ver her flayed, exposed soul of a young girl who had gone open and warm to give herself to the children, there set a hard, insentient thing, that worked mechanically according to a system imposed.
1915, DH Lawrence, The Rainbow, Vintage, published 2011, page 3671 more example
"Mr Carrados happens to be blind, Mr Spinola," interposed Copling, seeing that their host was so far in ignorance of the fact. "Impossible! Impossible!" exclaimed Spinola, riveting his own very bright eyes on his guest's insentient ones.
1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC - rareInsensitive, indifferent.
His thought is tied, the curving prow / Of motion moored to rock; / And minutes burst upon a brow / Insentient to shock.
1941, Theodore Roethke, “Death Piece”, in Open House, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →OCLC; republished in The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke, London: Faber and Faber […], 1968, →OCLC, page 4
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Italic*n̥-
- Latinin-
- Middle Englishin-
- Englishin-
- Englishsentient
- Englishinsentient
Translations
Bulgarian неодушевен
- неодушевен (neoduševen)having no consciousness or animation
Czech necitlivý
- necitlivýhaving no consciousness or animation
Hindi अचेतन
- अचेतन (acetan)having no consciousness or animation
Cite this entry
insentient. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/insentient
“insentient.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/insentient. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “insentient,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/insentient.
Source: insentient on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.