sensuousness

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sen·su·ous

(sĕn′sho͞o-əs)

adj.

a. Relating to or involving gratification of the senses: sensuous enjoyment; sensuous music.

b. Sexually attractive.

2. Relating to or affecting the senses; sensory: direct, sensuous experience of the world.

sen′su·os′i·ty (-ŏs′ĭ-tē), sen′su·ous·ness (-əs-nĭs) n.

sen′su·ous·ly adv.

Synonyms: sensuous, sensual, luxurious, voluptuous
These adjectives mean of, given to, or furnishing satisfaction of the senses. Sensuous usually applies to the senses involved in aesthetic enjoyment, as of art or music: "The sensuous joy from all things fair / His strenuous bent of soul repressed" (John Greenleaf Whittier).
Sensual more often applies to the physical senses or appetites, particularly those associated with sexual pleasure: "Of music Dr. Johnson used to say that it was the only sensual pleasure without vice" (William Seward).
Luxurious suggests a surrender to physical comfort leading to a delightful feeling of well-being: They stayed in a luxurious suite with a crystal chandelier and thick oriental rugs. Voluptuous principally implies abandoning oneself to pleasures, especially sensual pleasures: "Lucullus ... returned to Rome to lounge away the remainder of his days in voluptuous magnificence" (J.A. Froude).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

sensuousness - a sensuous feeling

sensibility - refined sensitivity to pleasurable or painful impressions; "cruelty offended his sensibility"

sensuousness

noun

The quality or condition of being sensuous:

sensualism, sensuality, voluptuousness.

Translations

sensuousness

[ˈsensjʊəsnɪs] N → sensualidad f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

sensuousness

n → Sinnlichkeit f, → Sinnenhaftigkeit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

sensuousness

[ˈsɛnsjʊəsnɪs] n → l'essere sensuoso/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

She opened her nostrils and inhaled with a mystic sensuousness; then she closed her lids.

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He stood close to her, and the effrontery in his eyes repelled the old, vanishing self in her, yet drew all her awakening sensuousness. He saw enough in her face to impel him to take her hand and hold it while he said his lingering good night.

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Strength balanced sensuousness and had upon it a tonic effect, compelling him to love beauty that was healthy and making him vibrate to sensations that were wholesome.

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The former curves of sensuousness were now modulated to lines of devotional passion.

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With whatever qualifications, it is certainly one of the great English lyrics, and its union of Renaissance sensuousness with grandeur of conception and sureness of expression foretell clearly enough at twenty the poet of 'Paradise Lost.' The sonnet on his twenty-third birthday, further, is known to almost every reader of poetry as the best short expression in literature of the dedication of one's life and powers to God.

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He shifted his hand along her arm with soft sensuousness, and she, looking down at his lips, remembered the long tingling they had given hers the first time they had met.

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The daring ensemble by Jaz Cerezo stood out amid a gazillion gowns and set off the half-Arab bombshell's sensuousness.

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To complete Mellie's imperial theme, Junjun transformed their large pavilion into Salon de Mellie, a dim-lighted, oriental banquet hall complete with life-size, antique Buddha statues lining the walls, and big golden lanterns decorated with pink blooms hanging from the ceiling evoking sensuousness and luxury reminiscent of oriental chambers from a bygone era.

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Another work, Such Queer Moons We Live In--the title a modified line from the poem "Balloons" from Sylvia Plath's posthumously published collection Ariel (1965)--recalled the sensuousness of Skinless with diaphanous, skin-colored fabric, and cut and mended canvas.

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Ultimately, Barkan argues, this dialogue is an expression of desire: the painter longs for the rich signification of language while the poet yearns for the direct sensuousness of painting.