Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

sentient en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɛn.ʃənt/ (US)
  • /ˈsɛn.ʃi.ənt/ (US)
  • /ˈsɛn.ti.ənt/ (UK)
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Latin sentiēns (“feeling, perceiving”), present active participle of sentiō.

Meanings

  1. Experiencing sensation, thought, or feeling.
    • Consider fish, who are apparently sentient yet cognitively extremely primitive in comparison with humans.
    • Obviously, other morally relevant considerations would apply to the case of a sentient fetus, as by acquiring sentience it acquires interests and moral status.
  2. Able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties.
  3. (broadly) Possessing human-like awareness and intelligence.
    • [Blake] Lemoine has been placed on “paid administrative leave” after publishing a transcript of conversations with LaMDA which he claims support his belief that the chatbot is sentient and comparable to a seven- or eight-year-old child. […] While Lemoine no doubt genuinely believes his claims, LaMDA is likely to be as sentient as a traffic light. 2022 June 14, Toby Walsh, “Labelling Google’s LaMDA chatbot as sentient is fanciful. But it’s very human to be taken in by machines”, in The Guardian:
    • While I had heard such talk before, I had always felt that sentient robots were in the realm of science fiction. But now, from someone I respected [Ray Kurzweil], I was hearing a strong argument that they were a near-term possibility. 2000 April 14, Bill Joy, “Why the Future Doesn't Need Us”, in Wired:
    • After more than 25 years as an artificial intelligence researcher[…]Dr. Goertzel knew he had finally reached the end goal: Desdemona, a machine he had built, was sentient. But a few minutes later, he realized this was nonsense. 2022 August 5, Cade Metz, “A.I. Is Not Sentient. Why Do People Say It Is?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
    • Not even a microbe? I don't want to blow up something that could evolve into a sentient species in a couple of billion years. 2002, André Bormanis, “Silent Enemy”, in Star Trek: Enterprise, season 1, episode 12, spoken by Jonathan Archer:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most sentient Degree=Sup lexicographic
more sentient Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Antonyms

insensate

Coordinates

sapient

Deriveds

presentient · cosentient · insentient · omnisentient · pseudosentient · semisentient · nonsentient · sentiently · unsentient · hypersentient

Relateds

conscient

Synonyms

sensate · sentient · aware · sapient · intelligent · aware · self-aware · sapient

Translations (57)

es sentiente (DPD, Fundéu) (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · bg съзнателен (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · cs vnímající (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ja 感覚力のある (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · es sensible (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · it senziente (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ja 敏感な (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · ja 知覚する (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · es sintiente (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · el αισθητηριοσυνειδησιακός (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ro conștient (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ru разу́мный (science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence) · cs cítící (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · hy զգայուն (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · bg усещащ (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · es consciente (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · ja 敏感な (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ja 感覚を持つ (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · pt senciente (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · fi älyllinen (science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence) · ms berperasaan (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ru созна́тельный (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · nl bewust (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · fi tunteva (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ja 意識する (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · el αισθητήριος (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ar حَسَّاس (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ru чу́вствующий (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · el αισθητηριοσυνειδησιακή (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · cmn 感受的 (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · nb sansende (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · fr sensible (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · el ευαίσθητος (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · pl przytomny (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · fr doué de sensation (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · cs schopný vnímat (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · hy բանական (science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence) · es sapiente (science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence) · de fühlend (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · hy գիտակից (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · fr sentient (science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence) · es con sentidos (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · nl met gevoel (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · ar عَاقِل (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · hy բանականություն ունեցող (science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence) · el αισθητηριοσυνειδησιακό (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · fi tietoinen (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · sv kännande (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · es sintiente (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · ja 意識する (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · cs vnímavý (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · ru ощуща́ющий (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · tl lantad (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · fr conscient (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · ru разу́мный (able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties) · hu érzó (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling) · es sentiente (DPD, Fundéu) (experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling)

sentient en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɛn.ʃənt/ (US)
  • /ˈsɛn.ʃi.ənt/ (US)
  • /ˈsɛn.ti.ənt/ (UK)
  • (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Latin sentiēns (“feeling, perceiving”), present active participle of sentiō.

Meanings

  1. Lifeform with the capability to feel sensation, such as pain.
  2. (broadly) An intelligent, self-aware being.
    • The merpeople and the sentients who lived on the beach often hitched rides on these creatures, steering them by pressure on exposed nerve centers. 1965, Philip José Farmer, The Maker of Universes:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
sentients Number=Plur lexicographic

Antonyms

automaton · insensate

Hyponyms

artificial intelligence · person · Homo sapiens · human

Meronyms

mind · apprehension · sapience · sentience · consciousness · awareness · perception · self-awareness · anima · knowledge · sense · witfulness

Relateds

self-aware

Synonyms

sentient · sapient · sophont · intelligence