sensation definition | Dictionary.com

sen⋅sa⋅tion

[sen-sey-shuh

–noun

1.	the operation or function of the senses; perception or awareness of stimuli through the senses.

2.	a mental condition or physical feeling resulting from stimulation of a sense organ or from internal bodily change, as cold or pain.

3.	Physiology. the faculty of perception of stimuli.

4.	a general feeling not directly attributable to any given stimulus, as discomfort, anxiety, or doubt.

5.	a mental feeling, esp. a state of excited feeling.

6.	a state of excited feeling or interest caused among a number of persons or throughout a community, as by some rumor or occurrence.

7.	a cause of such feeling or interest: The new Brazilian movie was the sensation of the film festival.

Origin:
1605–15; < ML sēnsātiōn- (s. of sēnsātiō), equiv. to LL sēnsāt(us) sensate + -iōn- -ion

Related forms:

sen⋅sa⋅tion⋅less, adjective

Synonyms:
2, 4. See sense. 6. excitement, stimulation, animation; agitation, commotion, perturbation.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To sensation

sen·sa·tion (sěn-sā'shən)

1. A perception associated with stimulation of a sense organ or with a specific body condition: the sensation of heat; a visual sensation.
2. The faculty to feel or perceive; physical sensibility: The patient has very little sensation left in the right leg.
3. An indefinite generalized body feeling: a sensation of lightness.
4. A state of intense public interest and excitement: "The purser made a sensation as sailors like to do, by predicting a storm" (Evelyn Waugh).
5. A cause of such interest and excitement. See Synonyms at wonder.
A state of heightened interest or emotion: "The anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhat between bliss and fear" (James Weldon Johnson).
1. A state of intense public interest and excitement: "The purser made a sensation as sailors like to do, by predicting a storm" (Evelyn Waugh).
2. A cause of such interest and excitement. See Synonyms at wonder.

[French, from Old French, from Medieval Latin sēnsātiō, sēnsātiōn-, from Late Latin sēnsātus, gifted with sense; see sensate.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sensation

Sen*sa"tion\, n. [Cf. F. sensation. See Sensate.]

1. (Physiol.) An impression, or the consciousness of an impression, made upon the central nervous organ, through the medium of a sensory or afferent nerve or one of the organs of sense; a feeling, or state of consciousness, whether agreeable or disagreeable, produced either by an external object (stimulus), or by some change in the internal state of the body.

Perception is only a special kind of knowledge, and sensation a special kind of feeling. . . . Knowledge and feeling, perception and sensation, though always coexistent, are always in the inverse ratio of each other. --Sir W. Hamilton.

2. A purely spiritual or psychical affection; agreeable or disagreeable feelings occasioned by objects that are not corporeal or material.

3. A state of excited interest or feeling, or that which causes it.

The sensation caused by the appearance of that work is still remembered by many. --Brougham.

Syn: Perception.

Usage: Sensation, Perseption. The distinction between these words, when used in mental philosophy, may be thus stated; if I simply smell a rose, I have a sensation; if I refer that smell to the external object which occasioned it, I have a perception. Thus, the former is mere feeling, without the idea of an object; the latter is the mind's apprehension of some external object as occasioning that feeling. "Sensation properly expresses that change in the state of the mind which is produced by an impression upon an organ of sense (of which change we can conceive the mind to be conscious, without any knowledge of external objects). Perception, on the other hand, expresses the knowledge or the intimations we obtain by means of our sensations concerning the qualities of matter, and consequently involves, in every instance, the notion of externality, or outness, which it is necessary to exclude in order to seize the precise import of the word sensation." --Fleming.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : sensation

Spanish: sensibildad,

German: die Empfindung,

Japanese: 感覚

More Translations »

sensation

1615, "a reaction to external stimulation of the sense organs," from M.L. sensationem (nom. sensatio), from L.L. sensatus "endowed with sense, sensible," from L. sensus "feeling" (see sense). Meaning "state of shock, surprise, in a community" first recorded 1779.

"The great object of life is sensation -- to feel that we exist, even though in pain. It is this 'craving void' which drives us to gaming -- to battle, to travel -- to intemperate, but keenly felt, pursuits of any description, whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment." [Lord Byron]

Main Entry: sen·sa·tion
Pronunciation: sen-'sA-sh&n, s&n-
Function: noun
1 a : a mental process (as seeing, hearing, orsmelling) due to immediate bodily stimulation often as distinguished from awareness of the process —compare PERCEPTION b : awareness (as of heat or pain) due to stimulation of a sense organ c : a state of consciousness of a kind usually due to physical objects or internal bodily changessensation in his chest>
2 : something (as a physical object, sense-datum, pain, or afterimage) that causes or is the object of sensation

sensation sen·sa·tion (sěn-sā'shən)
n.

A perception associated with stimulation of a sense organ or with a specific body condition.
The faculty to feel or perceive; physical sensibility.
An indefinite, generalized body feeling.

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