sentient

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.ti.ənt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.ʃ(i.)ənt/

Adjective

sentient (comparative more sentient, superlative most sentient)

1. Experiencing sensation, thought, or feeling.

   Synonym: sensate

2. Able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties.

   Antonym: insensate

3. (loosely, chiefly science fiction) Possessing human-like awareness and intelligence.

   Synonyms: sapient; see also Thesaurus:self-aware

   • 2002, André Bormanis, “Silent Enemy”, in Star Trek: Enterprise, season 1, episode 12, spoken by Jonathan Archer:

     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.

   • 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^[1]:

     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 August 5, Cade Metz, “A.I. Is Not Sentient. Why Do People Say It Is?”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     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.

Coordinate terms

• sapient

Translations

experiencing sensation, perceiving, thinking, or feeling

• Arabic: حَسَّاس (ḥassās)
• Armenian: զգայուն (hy) (zgayun)
• Bulgarian: усещащ (bg) (useštašt)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 感受的

• Czech: vnímající, cítící
• Finnish: tunteva (fi)
• French: sensible (fr), doué de sensation
• Greek: αισθητήριος (el) m (aisthitírios)
• Italian: senziente (it) (literary)
• Japanese: 意識する (ja) (いしきする, ishiki suru), 感覚力のある (かんかくりょくのある, kankaku-ryoku no aru), 知覚する (ja) (ちかくする, chikaku suru), 敏感な (ja) (びんかんな, binkan na)
• Malay: berperasaan
• Portuguese: senciente (pt)
• Romanian: conștient (ro) m
• Russian: чу́вствующий (ru) (čúvstvujuščij), ощуща́ющий (ru) (oščuščájuščij)
• Spanish: sensible (es), con sentidos
• Tagalog: lantad

able to consciously perceive through the use of sense faculties

• Arabic: عَاقِل (ar) (ʕāqil)
• Armenian: գիտակից (hy) (gitakicʻ)
• Bulgarian: съзнателен (bg) (sǎznatelen)
• Czech: vnímavý, schopný vnímat
• Dutch: bewust (nl)
• Finnish: tietoinen (fi)
• French: conscient (fr) m
• Greek: ευαίσθητος (el) m (evaísthitos)
• Japanese: 感覚を持つ (いしきをもつ, ishiki o motsu), 意識する (ja) (いしきする, ishiki suru), 敏感な (ja) (びんかんな)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sansende

• Polish: przytomny (pl)
• Russian: разу́мный (ru) (razúmnyj), созна́тельный (ru) (soznátelʹnyj)
• Spanish: consciente (es)

science fiction: possessing human-like awareness, knowledge and intelligence

• Armenian: բանական (hy) (banakan), բանականություն ունեցող (banakanutʻyun unecʻoġ)
• Finnish: älyllinen (fi)
• French: sentient (fr) m
• Russian: разу́мный (ru) (razúmnyj)

See also

• conscient

Noun

sentient (plural sentients)

1. Lifeform with the capability to feel sensation, such as pain.
2. (loosely, chiefly science fiction) An intelligent, self-aware being.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sentient

   • 1965, Philip José Farmer, The Maker of Universes:

     The merpeople and the sentients who lived on the beach often hitched rides on these creatures, steering them by pressure on exposed nerve centers.

Further reading

• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “sentient adj.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “sentient n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
• Jeff Prucher, editor (2007), “sentient”, in Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 180–181.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsen.ti.ent/, [ˈs̠ɛn̪t̪iɛn̪t̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsen.t͡si.ent/, [ˈsɛnt̪͡s̪ien̪t̪]

Verb

sentient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of sentiō