Definition of "sensible" in English

adjective

1. Acting with or showing good sense; able to make good judgements based on reason or wisdom, or reflecting such ability.

2. Characterized more by usefulness, practicality, or comfort than by attractiveness, formality, or fashionableness, especially of clothing.

   • I only wear high heels on formal occasions; otherwise, I prefer sensible shoes.
   • 1999, Neil Gaiman, Stardust (2001 Perennial Edition), page 8, They would walk, on fair evenings, around the village, and discuss the theory of crop rotation, and the weather, and other such sensible matters.

3. (especially formally) Able to be sensed by the senses or the psyche; able to be perceived.

   • For Plato the belief in sensible objects is fallible.

4. (archaic) Able to feel or perceive.

5. (archaic) Liable to external impression; easily affected; sensitive.

   • a sensible thermometer

6. (archaic) Of or pertaining to the senses; sensory.

7. (archaic) Cognizant; having the perception of something; aware of something.

noun

1. (obsolete) Sensation; sensibility.

2. (obsolete) That which impresses itself on the senses; anything perceptible.

   • Accordingly, with respect to their knowability or opinability, Socrates makes no distinction among the sensibles between natural things and artifacts (510a5–6); both are relegated to the realm of opinion. Hence, there is no Socratic-Platonic biology.

3. (obsolete) That which has sensibility; a sensitive being.