sentience

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia.

sen·tience

(sĕn′shəns, -shē-əns, -tē-əns)

1. The quality or state of being sentient; consciousness.

2. Feeling as distinguished from perception or thought.

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.

sentience

(ˈsɛnʃəns) or

sentiency

1. the state or quality of being sentient; awareness

2. sense perception not involving intelligence or mental perception; feeling

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sen•tience

(ˈsɛn ʃəns)

also sen′tien•cy,

sentient condition or character; capacity for sensation or feeling.

[1830–40]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	sentience - state of elementary or undifferentiated consciousness; "the crash intruded on his awareness" awareness consciousness - an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation; "he lost consciousness"
	2.	sentience - 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" sensory faculty, sentiency, sense, sensation faculty, mental faculty, module - one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind sense modality, sensory system, modality - a particular sense sensitivity, sensitiveness, sensibility - (physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation; "sensitivity to pain"
	3.	sentience - the readiness to perceive sensations; elementary or undifferentiated consciousness; "gave sentience to slugs and newts"- Richard Eberhart animateness, liveness, aliveness - the property of being animated; having animal life as distinguished from plant life insentience - lacking consciousness or ability to perceive sensations

Translations

sentience

n → Empfindungsvermögen nt; the sentience of approaching death → das Vorgefühl des nahenden Todes

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

References in classic literature ?

This opinion, in its general form, was that of the sentience of all vegetable things.

View in context

Each day he tried the lifting of greater weight, and it seemed almost as if the machine had a sentience of its own, which was increasing with the obstacles placed before it.

View in context

Not a thing seemed to be stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate, so that a thin streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a vitality of its own.

View in context

How can we ascertain that artificial intelligence has attained sentience, when we don't understand the nature of consciousness itself?

Is AI smarter than we think?

Siddhartha Gautama thought that the very essence of sentience is suffering.

Worth the Steep Price

Fortunately, new research is showing us that sentience is ubiquitous in the complex, interconnected, magical web of existence.

Future Sacred; The Connected Creativity of Nature

"Given there's now a cross-party consensus in this House that we should enshrine recognition of animal sentience in law, shouldn't the Government require the United States to do equivalent legislation at federal level as a precondition to any trade deal?" Mr Gove said it was a "very good point" before praising Mr Eustice for his ministerial service at Defra, adding: "I so enjoyed serving with him and, as ever, he shows his commitment to animal welfare and to the highest standards in farming remains undimmed - we're very, very lucky to have him in this House."

Gove pushed on future of food standards

The original film is less a lofty probe into sentience and more a straightforward tale of human hubris and robot revolt.

Past in Perspective

They provide a special emphasis on sentient conservation, human and animal marginalization, and the subjectivity and sentience of animals.

Nature Conservation in Southern Africa: Morality and Marginality: Towards Sentient Conservation?

"The fact the AI gave a fellow machine sentience, placed it in a sort of combat situation and then had it escaping into the sunset, was such an emotional response from what is essentially a digital platform," the director added in a statement, according to Variety.

AI system writes script for car advertisement

Speaking at the launching press conference of #SaveThe9th here at Karachi Press Club, the Pink Ribbon Chief Executive Officer, Omer Aftab, highlighted the sensitivity of the disease, need of sentience about it and provision of healthcare facilities.