Meaning & use
sensual
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Giving pleasure to the body and physical senses, often with a suggestion of sexual or intimate pleasure.
Grammar: Often before nouns or after linking verbs; context can make the sexual implication stronger.
Patterns
- a sensual experience
- sensual pleasure
- sensual lips or movements
The novel describes the meal in rich, sensual detail.
She disliked the advertisement's cheap, sensual tone.
Warm water and quiet music made the bath deeply sensual.
adjectivecomparable
Relating to enjoyment through the senses rather than through intellect or practical reasoning.
Grammar: This broader use is less loaded than the sexual sense and fits art, music, food, or design.
Patterns
- sensual beauty
- a sensual response to music
- sensual textures and colors
The composer sought a sensual beauty that listeners could feel physically.
Velvet, cedar, and low light gave the room a calm sensual warmth.
Her paintings celebrate sensual color rather than sharp realism.
Word forms
| comparative | more sensual |
|---|---|
| superlative | most sensual |
Common combinations
- sensual pleasure
- The poem treats food as sensual pleasure, not mere fuel.
- sensual experience
- A thunderstorm can be a sensual experience of sound, smell, and cool air.
- sensual mouth
- Critics described the sculpture's calm face and sensual mouth.
- sensual rhythm
- The dancers moved to a slow, sensual rhythm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sensuous
- Sensuous is broader and safer for beauty perceived through the senses; sensual more often suggests bodily or sexual pleasure.
- voluptuous
- Voluptuous stresses rich physical indulgence and can sound excessive or disapproving; sensual is more neutral.
- erotic
- Erotic is explicitly sexual; sensual can be physical without being directly sexual.
- tactile
- Tactile concerns the sense of touch only; sensual covers pleasure from the senses more generally.
Opposites
Word family
- sensuality noun
- Enjoyment of physical and sensory pleasure.
- sensually adverb
- In a way that appeals to physical pleasure.
- sensuous adjective
- Pleasing to the senses, usually without a strong sexual implication.
Commonly confused: sensual or sensuous? sensual or sensitive?
sensual vs sensuous
Use sensuous for art, music, or beauty enjoyed through the senses; use sensual when bodily or sexual pleasure is meant or implied.
sensual vs sensitive
Sensitive means easily affected, aware, or needing care; sensual concerns sensory pleasure.
Practice
Which sentence uses sensual with the strongest bodily or sexual implication?
Choose one answer.
A voice described as low and sensual strongly suggests intimate physical attraction. The other options emphasize touch, taste, or light and can read more broadly, closer to sensuous.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sensual”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.