sensation
noun
Simple meaning
A general feeling of excitement and heightened interest.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehnsayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɛnˈseɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A general feeling of excitement and heightened interest
“Anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhere between hope and fear.”
A widespread reaction of interest or excitement.
A physical feeling or perception from something that comes into contact with the body; something sensed.
psychologyphysiology
Excitation of sensory organs.
A state of widespread public excitement and interest
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A general feeling of excitement and heightened interest
Used this way, sensation is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhere between hope and fear.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- sense datum , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sensation
- “Anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhere between hope and fear.”noun
- “A sensation of touch.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Any device that receives a signal or stimulus (as heat or pressure or light or motion etc.) and responds to it in a distinctive manner.
Showing reason or sound judgment.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The sensation that results when olfactory receptors in the nose are stimulated by particular chemicals in gaseous form.
A somatic sensation of acute discomfort.
A somatic sensation of acute discomfort.
The somatic sensation that results from applying force to an area of skin.
A sensation localized on the skin.
The perception of tactual or proprioceptive or gut sensations.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Responsiveness to external stimuli.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: general feeling of excitement and heightened interest
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.