Sense vs. Sensibility: Know the Difference

By Shumaila Saeed || Updated on December 25, 2023

Sense refers to the faculty of perception or a practical and realistic approach, while Sensibility involves the capacity to feel or perceive, often linked with emotional responsiveness.

Key Differences

Sense often implies practicality and rationality, involving logic and a realistic understanding of situations. Sensibility, in contrast, is more about emotional awareness and the ability to perceive and respond to subtle feelings or aesthetic qualities.

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Nov 28, 2023

In decision-making, having sense means using logic and reason to reach conclusions, focusing on practical and effective solutions. Sensibility involves being attuned to emotions and moral considerations, sometimes leading to decisions based more on feelings than on rational analysis.

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Sense can also refer to the physical faculties of perception, such as sight, hearing, or smell. Sensibility, however, often points to a refined or acute awareness, especially in artistic or cultural matters, appreciating nuances that may elude a purely logical approach.

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In literature, characters described as having 'sense' are often pragmatic and grounded in reality. Characters with 'sensibility', on the other hand, are typically more emotional, empathetic, and sensitive to their surroundings and the feelings of others.

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Sense in everyday language is associated with sound judgment and practicality. Sensibility is more aligned with sensitivity, often being used to describe an individual's capacity for emotional depth and empathy.

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Comparison Chart

Definition

Perception or practical approach

Capacity to feel or emotional responsiveness

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Decision-making

Based on logic and reason

Influenced by emotions and moral considerations

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In Literature

Pragmatic, grounded characters

Emotional, empathetic characters

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In Everyday Language

Associated with practicality and judgment

Associated with emotional depth and empathy

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In Art and Culture

Perception through physical faculties

Refined awareness of aesthetics and emotions

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Sense and Sensibility Definitions

Sense

Ability to perceive or feel

He lost his sense of smell.

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Sensibility

Refined awareness of feelings

He has a great sensibility for others' emotions.

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Sense

Practical wisdom

Use your common sense.

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Sensibility

Susceptibility to aesthetic influences

The film appealed to his artistic sensibility.

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Sense

Meaning or purpose

The sense of her argument was clear.

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Sensibility

Emotional responsiveness

Her sensibility to art is profound.

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Sense

Conscious awareness

He had a sense that something was wrong.

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Sensibility

The ability to perceive stimuli

Lost sensibility in a toe.

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Oct 19, 2023

Sense

Any of the faculties by which stimuli from outside or inside the body are received and felt, as the faculties of hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste, and equilibrium.

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Sensibility

Mental or emotional responsiveness, especially in being offended or in having one's feelings hurt

"The earthy humor of many of the ballads deeply offended her sensibilities" (Anne Stott).

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Sense

A perception or feeling produced by a stimulus; sensation

A sense of fatigue and hunger.

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Sensibility

The capacity to respond intelligently to refined emotions, especially in art

"They celebrated deeds that fit stereotyped images of noble valor, making the writing flat and tedious to modern sensibilities" (David A. Bell).

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Sense

Senses The faculties of sensation as means of providing physical gratification and pleasure.

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Sensibility

The ability to sense, feel or perceive; responsiveness to sensory stimuli; sensitivity.

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Sense

An intuitive or acquired perception or ability to estimate

A sense of diplomatic timing.

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Sensibility

Emotional or artistic awareness; keen sensitivity to matters of feeling or creative expression.

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Sense

A capacity to appreciate or understand

A keen sense of humor.

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Sensibility

Excessive emotional awareness; the fact or quality of being overemotional.

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Sense

A vague feeling or presentiment

A sense of impending doom.

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Sensibility

(in the plural) An acute awareness or feeling.

I apologize if I offended your sensibilities, but that's the truth of the matter.

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Sense

Recognition or perception either through the senses or through the intellect; consciousness

Has no sense of shame.

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Sensibility

(obsolete) The capacity to be perceived by the senses.

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Sense

Natural understanding or intelligence, especially in practical matters

The boy had sense and knew just what to do when he got lost.

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Sensibility

The quality or state of being sensible, or capable of sensation; capacity to feel or perceive.

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Sense

Often senses The normal ability to think or reason soundly

Have you taken leave of your senses?.

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Sensibility

The capacity of emotion or feeling, as distinguished from the intellect and the will; peculiar susceptibility of impression, pleasurable or painful; delicacy of feeling; quick emotion or sympathy; as, sensibility to pleasure or pain; sensibility to shame or praise; exquisite sensibility; - often used in the plural.

The true lawgiver ought to have a heart full of sensibility.

His sensibilities seem rather to have been those of patriotism than of wounded pride.

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Sense

Something sound or reasonable

There's no sense in waiting three hours.

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Sensibility

Experience of sensation; actual feeling.

This adds greatly to my sensibility.

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Sense

A meaning that is conveyed, as in speech or writing; signification

The sense of the criticism is that the proposal has certain risks.

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Sensibility

That quality of an instrument which makes it indicate very slight changes of condition; delicacy; as, the sensibility of a balance, or of a thermometer.

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Sense

One of the meanings of a word or phrase

The word set has many senses.

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Sensibility

Mental responsiveness and awareness

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Sense

Judgment; consensus

Sounding out the sense of the electorate on capital punishment.

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Sensibility

Refined sensitivity to pleasurable or painful impressions;

Cruelty offended his sensibility

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Sense

Intellectual interpretation, as of the significance of an event or the conclusions reached by a group

I came away from the meeting with the sense that we had resolved all outstanding issues.

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Sensibility

(physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli;

Sensitivity to pain

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Sense

To become aware of; perceive

Organisms able to sense their surroundings.

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Sensibility

Capacity for refined feeling

Her musical sensibility is exceptional.

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Sense

To grasp; understand

Sensed that the financial situation would improve.

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Sensibility

Acute perception in a specific realm

Her cultural sensibility is very developed.

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Sense

To detect automatically

Sense radioactivity.

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Sense

(Genetics) Of or relating to the portion of the strand of double-stranded DNA that serves as a template for and is transcribed into RNA.

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Sense

Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.

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Sense

Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.

A sense of security

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Sense

Sound practical or moral judgment.

It's common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.

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Sense

The meaning, reason, or value of something.

You don’t make any sense.

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Sense

Any particular meaning of a word, among its various meanings.

Word sense disambiguation

The true sense of words or phrases

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Sense

A natural appreciation or ability.

A keen musical sense

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Sense

(pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.

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Sense

(semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.

The word set has various senses.

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Sense

(mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.

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Sense

(mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.

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Sense

(biochemistry) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

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Sense

To use biological senses: to either see, hear, smell, taste, or feel.

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Sense

To instinctively be aware.

She immediately sensed her disdain.

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Sense

To comprehend.

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Sense

A faculty, possessed by animals, of perceiving external objects by means of impressions made upon certain organs (sensory or sense organs) of the body, or of perceiving changes in the condition of the body; as, the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. See Muscular sense, under Muscular, and Temperature sense, under Temperature.

Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.

What surmounts the reachOf human sense I shall delineate.

The traitor Sense recallsThe soaring soul from rest.

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Sense

Perception by the sensory organs of the body; sensation; sensibility; feeling.

In a living creature, though never so great, the sense and the affects of any one part of the body instantly make a transcursion through the whole.

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Sense

Perception through the intellect; apprehension; recognition; understanding; discernment; appreciation.

This Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover.

High disdain from sense of injured merit.

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Sense

Sound perception and reasoning; correct judgment; good mental capacity; understanding; also, that which is sound, true, or reasonable; rational meaning.

He raves; his words are looseAs heaps of sand, and scattering wide from sense.

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Sense

That which is felt or is held as a sentiment, view, or opinion; judgment; notion; opinion.

I speak my private but impartial senseWith freedom.

The municipal council of the city had ceased to speak the sense of the citizens.

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Sense

Meaning; import; signification; as, the true sense of words or phrases; the sense of a remark.

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense.

I think 't was in another sense.

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Sense

Moral perception or appreciation.

Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no sense of the most friendly offices.

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Sense

One of two opposite directions in which a line, surface, or volume, may be supposed to be described by the motion of a point, line, or surface.

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Sense

To perceive by the senses; to recognize.

Is he sure that objects are not otherwise sensed by others than they are by him?

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Oct 19, 2023

Sense

A general conscious awareness;

A sense of security

A sense of happiness

A sense of danger

A sense of self

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Oct 19, 2023

Sense

The meaning of a word or expression; the way in which a word or expression or situation can be interpreted;

The dictionary gave several senses for the word

In the best sense charity is really a duty

The signifier is linked to the signified

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Oct 19, 2023

Sense

The faculty through which the external world is apprehended;

In the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing

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Sense

Sound practical judgment;

I can't see the sense in doing it now

He hasn't got the sense God gave little green apples

Fortunately she had the good sense to run away

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Oct 19, 2023

Sense

A natural appreciation or ability;

A keen musical sense

A good sense of timing

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Sense

Perceive by a physical sensation, e.g., coming from the skin or muscles;

He felt the wind

She felt an object brushing her arm

He felt his flesh crawl

She felt the heat when she got out of the car

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Sense

Detect some circumstance or entity automatically;

This robot can sense the presence of people in the room

Particle detectors sense ionization

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Sense

Become aware of not through the senses but instinctively;

I sense his hostility

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Sense

Comprehend;

I sensed the real meaning of his letter

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Sense

A particular feeling

She had a strong sense of duty.

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Repeatedly Asked Queries

Does sense always mean practicality?

Often, but it can also refer to sensory perception.

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Can sensibility be learned?

While innate to some degree, it can be refined through experience and exposure to art and culture.

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Is having a good sense the same as intelligence?

Not necessarily; it’s more about practical wisdom and judgment.

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Does high sensibility mean being overly emotional?

Not always; it's more about depth of feeling and empathy.

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How does sensibility influence art appreciation?

It enhances the ability to perceive and respond to emotional and aesthetic qualities in art.

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Can someone be taught to have sensibility?

Exposure to diverse experiences can enhance one’s sensibility.

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Is sensibility important in relationships?

Yes, it aids in understanding and empathizing with others.

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Can businesses benefit from sense?

Yes, particularly in strategic planning and problem-solving.

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Does sensibility vary from person to person?

Yes, as it's influenced by individual experiences and temperament.

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Is common sense universal?

While widely valued, what's considered common sense can vary culturally.

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Is sense more important than sensibility?

The importance varies depending on the context.

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Can sense be misleading?

Yes, especially if not balanced with other considerations.

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Should decisions be based solely on sense?

A balance of sense and sensibility often leads to well-rounded decisions.

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Can sense be a physical sensation?

Yes, like the sense of touch or taste.

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Are sense and sensibility opposites?

Not necessarily; they can complement each other.

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Can a leader benefit from sensibility?

Yes, it can enhance empathy and understanding of team dynamics.

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Is being sensible the same as being sensitive?

Being sensible is more about practicality, while being sensitive relates more to emotional response.

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Is sensibility important in education?

It can enrich learning, particularly in the arts and humanities.

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Can a lack of sense lead to problems?

Yes, especially in practical or dangerous situations.

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How does sensibility affect creativity?

It can deepen artistic expression and appreciation.

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Nov 28, 2023

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Shumaila Saeed

Shumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.