insensate - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: insensate

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

in·sen·sate

Audio Help [in-sen-seyt, -sit] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	not endowed with sensation; inanimate: insensate stone.

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

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

[Origin: 1510–20; < LL insénsātus irrational. See in-³, sensate

]

—Related forms

in·sen·sate·ly, adverb

in·sen·sate·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. lifeless, inorganic. 2. insensible. 3. stupid, irrational, senseless, witless, dumb.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
insensate

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

in·sen·sate Audio Help (ĭn-sěn'sāt', -sĭt) Pronunciation Key
adj.

1. Lacking sensation or awareness; inanimate.
2. Unconscious.
3. Lacking sense or the power to reason.
4. Foolish; witless.
Lacking sensibility; unfeeling: "a predatory, insensate society in which innocence and decency can prove fatal" (Peter S. Prescott).
1. Lacking sense or the power to reason.
2. Foolish; witless.

[Latin īnsēnsātus : in-, not; see in-¹ + sēnsus, understanding, reason; see sense.]

in·sen'sate'ly adv., in·sen'sate'ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
insensate

1519, from L.L. insensatus "irrational, foolish," from L. in- "not" + sensatus "gifted with sense." Insensate means "not capable of feeling sensation," often "inanimate;" insensible means "lacking the power to feel with the senses," hence, often, "unconscious;" insensitive (1610), from M.L. sensitivus, means "having little or no reaction to what is perceived by one's senses," often "tactless."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

insensate
adjective
1.	devoid of feeling and consciousness and animation; "insentient (or insensate) stone" [syn: insentient] [ant: animate]
2.	without compunction or human feeling; "in cold blood"; "cold-blooded killing"; "insensate destruction" [syn: cold]