sensibility

名词，表示对外界刺激、情感或艺术的感受能力，也可特指容易被冒犯的情感敏感点。

💡 记忆钩子

把 sensibility 想成一根很灵敏的“感受天线”：它先能接收到声音、触碰等感觉，再延伸为能体会情感和艺术；当这根天线过于敏感时，别人的话就可能碰到一个人的 sensibilities，也就是他的情感底线。

📝 学习建议

先掌握“情感或艺术上的敏感、鉴赏力”和复数形式表示“容易被冒犯的情感”这两个现代常见用法，再把“感官反应能力”理解为较专业的延伸义。
不要把 sensibility 望文生义地只理解成“明智”或“常识”；表示“明智、理智”通常用 sense 或 common sense。

📖 中文释义

noun

common 感知和感受能力

📖 指接收并回应感觉刺激的能力，也就是那根“感受天线”的灵敏程度；在技术语境中，可说仪器或系统对微小刺激很敏感。

💡 常用“the sensibility of + 仪器或系统”或“high/low sensibility”来说明反应灵敏度。这个义项多见于技术或较正式的文字，日常谈人的感官敏锐时通常更常用 sensitivity；不要把它直接当作一般的“感觉”。

countable uncountable

The instrument's high sensibility allows it to detect very weak signals.

这台仪器的高灵敏度使它能够检测到非常微弱的信号。
core 情感或艺术敏感性

📖 指细腻体会情感、审美和艺术表达的能力。它仍然是那根“感受天线”，只是接收的对象从物理刺激扩大到了诗歌、音乐、叙事和人的感情。

💡 常用“a sensibility for + 领域”或“artistic/literary sensibility”来说明某人的审美和表达倾向，也常说“a keen sensibility”。这个义项偏正式，适合谈艺术、文学和文化，不宜在普通场合用来简单表示“感觉”。

countable uncountable

Her music shows a deep sensibility for the emotions of ordinary life.

她的音乐表现出对日常生活情感的深刻感受力。

The director has a remarkable visual sensibility.

这位导演有非凡的视觉审美感受力。
rare 过度感情用事

📖 指感情过分敏感、容易被情绪牵动的状态，是“感受天线”调得太灵敏的旧式说法。

💡 这个义项主要见于古旧或文学语境，现代英语中不宜用它来描述一般的情绪化。不要把所有的 emotional 都译成这个词；现代语境通常会直接说 emotional 或 oversensitive。

archaic countable uncountable
core 容易被冒犯的情感

📖 常用复数 sensibilities，指一个人对言语、行为或观念特别在意、容易受伤或被冒犯的情感底线。它就是“感受天线”接收到冒犯信号后的那一部分敏感反应。

💡 最常见的模式是“offend/hurt + someone's sensibilities”或“be sensitive to people's sensibilities”。复数形式比单数自然得多，语气可正式，也常带有委婉或略带讽刺的意味；不要把它理解成单纯的意见或立场。

countable in-plural uncountable

The comedian changed the joke so that it would not offend anyone's sensibilities.

那位喜剧演员改了这个笑话，以免冒犯任何人的情感。

The novel may challenge the sensibilities of some readers.

这部小说可能会触动一些读者敏感的情感底线。
rare 可被感官察觉的性质

📖 指某种事物能够被感官察觉的性质，是“能够被感受到”这一核心概念的过时用法。

💡 这是过时的义项，现代英语中几乎不这样使用。阅读旧文献时可根据上下文理解为“可感知性”，写作和会话中不要主动采用。

countable obsolete uncountable

sensibilities plural

📘 英文释义 (WordNet) 共 3 组

(physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation

同义词集: sensitivity sensitiveness sensibility

sensitivity to pain

上位: sensation, sense, sensory faculty, sentience, sentiency 下位: hypersensitivity, reactivity, responsiveness

mental responsiveness and awareness

同义词集: sensibility esthesia aesthesia

上位: consciousness

refined sensitivity to pleasurable or painful impressions

同义词集: sensibility

cruelty offended his sensibility

上位: sensitiveness, sensitivity 下位: insight, perceptiveness, perceptivity

🌳 词源

由 sensible 加后缀 -ity 构成，源自中古法语 sensibilité，最终来自拉丁语 sēnsibilitās。

From Late Middle English sensibilite (“physical ability to sense or perceive; sensitivity to pain; type of perception by a sense organ; perception, understanding; image imprinted on the mind during perception; (philosophy) capacity of the soul to receive information from the senses, perceptibility; (in the plural) the senses”), from Middle French sensibilité and Old French sensibilité (“characteristic or state of being capable of sensation”) (modern French sensibilité), and from their etymon Late Latin sēnsibilitās (“intelligence; perception, sensation; sensitiveness; meaning or sense of words”), from Latin sēnsibilis (“detectable; perceptible, sensible”) (from sentiō (“to perceive with the senses, feel, sense; to be aware or sensible of; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to perceive; to think”)) + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives denoting a capacity or worth of being acted upon)) + -tās (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting states of being). By surface analysis, sensible + -ity (suffix forming nouns). Sense 6 (“in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant: emotion or feeling as opposed to the will”) is a use of the word as a calque of German Sinnlichkeit (“receptivity and devotion to what is experienced by the senses; desire for or openness to eroticism, sensuality”).

🔄 变式

sensibilities plural

🏷 单词标签 & 词根