1
as in inanimate
lacking animate awareness or sensation
refused to believe that the universe as we know it evolved from the random interactions of insentient particles of matter
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in imperceptive
not having or showing a deep understanding of something
an insentient therapist who failed to see what the teenager's real problem was
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of insentient
This is partly because the loss of insentient machinery, no matter how expensive, is easier to stomach than the death of an aircrew.
—
Lauren Kahn, Foreign Affairs, 6 June 2023
But its shortcomings are essentially those of the novel: its single-track didacticism; its neat pitting of romantic idealists against macho, insentient normies; and the fact that a decisive plot twist can be spotted a mile off.
—Houman Barekat, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2023
Genes are insentient things and cannot be said to have any kind of purposeful selfish or unselfish behavior.
—Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2017
Lauren Kahn, Foreign Affairs, 6 June 2023
But its shortcomings are essentially those of the novel: its single-track didacticism; its neat pitting of romantic idealists against macho, insentient normies; and the fact that a decisive plot twist can be spotted a mile off.
—Houman Barekat, New York Times, 29 Mar. 2023
Genes are insentient things and cannot be said to have any kind of purposeful selfish or unselfish behavior.
—Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insentient
Adjective
-
That’s why horror movies often have these inanimate emblems that are so terrifying.—
Brian Davids,
The Hollywood Reporter,
21 Feb. 2025
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Celebrate by having a relaxing bath with your favorite inanimate waterfowl.—
Rosalind Bowling,
The Tennessean,
20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
The actress was unconscious and unresponsive, according to the New York Police Department.—
Brie Stimson,
Fox News,
27 Feb. 2025
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This residual may stem from conscious or unconscious bias or other factors outside the scope of this research.—
Kweilin Ellingrud,
Forbes,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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That would have been a stupid question just about anywhere else, but the exhibition was by Laura Owens, a painter with a penchant for trickery, and the venue was Matthew Marks Gallery in New York, whose press release for Owens’s latest outing offered little in the way of explanation.—
Alex Greenberger,
ARTnews.com,
24 Feb. 2025
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Thank you Hallie for thinking of me and putting my name in your stupid brother's ear.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
EW.com,
24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The brain, like other internal organs, is insensate, its lack of sensory receptors attested by videos of virtuoso violinists who play on unfazed as neurosurgeons go to work inside their skulls.—
Matthew Ponsford,
WIRED,
19 Sep. 2024
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But states have used midazolam alone — and at much higher doses — in executions since 2013, claiming the drug will render people insensate to pain before the administration of other lethal injection drugs.—
Lauren Gill,
ProPublica,
29 Apr. 2023
Adjective
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He could not be seen, just as the little black boy was not seen, or was seen inaccurately, by the unperceptive and disdainful white boy.—
Louise Glück,
The New York Review of Books,
14 Jan. 2021
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Memory, conveyed by an unperceptive, mechanically flowing camera, seems disconnected from culture.—
Armond White,
National Review,
19 Nov. 2021
Adjective
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The real shock for Ukrainians is not necessarily in the substance of Trump's remarks but in their directness—which is indeed unwise.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
14 Feb. 2025
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Respect your child’s choices This is a hard one at times, because adults—especially young adults—may make seemingly unwise decisions.—
Wendy Wisner,
Parents,
13 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Ratajkowski has been fighting the stereotype of the dumb model from the beginning of her career.—
Daniel Jackson,
Allure,
18 July 2017
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Ninety nine percent of all NFL players are explicitly not dumb.—
Andy Benoit,
The MMQB,
10 July 2017
Adjective
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My long-distance boyfriend often addressed letters with silly names or in-jokes.—
A.S. King,
TIME,
21 Feb. 2025
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Taking the material beyond its original audience of one, the writer-director offers a delicious mélange of the surreal and the silly for all ages.—
Sheri Linden,
The Hollywood Reporter,
20 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Insentient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insentient. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.
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