sentience

noun

sen·​tience ˈsen(t)-sh(ē-)ən(t)s How to pronounce sentience (audio)
ˈsen-tē-ən(t)s
1
: a sentient quality or state
2
: feeling or sensation as distinguished from perception and thought

Examples of sentience in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Or paper lanterns with faces, ancient mirrors that gain sentience. Katherine Larson july 16, Literary Hub, 16 July 2025 Even the prospect of AI sentience and bots capable of overpowering their flesh-and-bone creators cannot halt our penchant for relentlessly leveraging tech to achieve advancement in one area or another. Saro McKenna, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025 Rosenblatt promoted it as brain-like—on its way to sentience and self-replication—and these claims were picked up and broadcast by the New York Times. Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 19 May 2025 One of the greatest mysteries facing humanity is how the activation or firing of our neurons relates to our ability to think and somehow gives rise to a sense of sentience and consciousness. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for sentience

Word History

First Known Use

1839, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of sentience was in 1839

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Cite this Entry

“Sentience.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentience. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.

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