insensible

Etymology

From Old French insensible, from Late Latin insensibilis

Adjective

insensible (comparative more insensible, superlative most insensible)

1. Unable to be perceived by the senses.
   • Sir Thomas Browne

     Two small and almost insensible pricks were found upon Cleopatra's arm.

   • Dryden

     They fall away, / And languish with insensible decay.

2. Incapable or deprived of physical sensation.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Fate of the Artemis‎:

     “[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck ; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]”

3. Unable to be understood; unintelligible.
4. Not sensible or reasonable; meaningless.
   • Sir M. Hale

     If it make the indictment be insensible or uncertain, it shall be quashed.

5. Incapable of mental feeling; indifferent.
   • Dryden

     Lost in their loves, insensible of shame.

   • Sir H. Wotton

     Accept an obligation without being a slave to the giver, or insensible to his kindness.

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Modern Library Edition (1995), page 138

     In spite of her deep-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to the compliment of such a man's affection...

6. Incapable of emotional feeling; callous; apathetic.

Adjective

insensible (plural insensibles)

1. insensible
2. impervious

Further reading

• “insensible” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Adjective

insensible (plural insensibles)

1. insensible, insensitive, cold, tactless