Sensation

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Sensation \Sen*sa"tion\, n. [Cf. F. sensation. See {Sensate}.]
     1. (Physiol.) An impression, or the consciousness of an
        impression, made upon the central nervous organ, through
        the medium of a sensory or afferent nerve or one of the
        organs of sense; a feeling, or state of consciousness,
        whether agreeable or disagreeable, produced either by an


        external object (stimulus), or by some change in the
        internal state of the body.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Perception is only a special kind of knowledge, and
              sensation a special kind of feeling. . . . Knowledge
              and feeling, perception and sensation, though always
              coexistent, are always in the inverse ratio of each
              other.                                --Sir W.
                                                    Hamilton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A purely spiritual or psychical affection; agreeable or
        disagreeable feelings occasioned by objects that are not
        corporeal or material.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A state of excited interest or feeling, or that which
        causes it.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The sensation caused by the appearance of that work
              is still remembered by many.          --Brougham.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Perception.
  
     Usage: {Sensation}, {Perseption}. The distinction between
            these words, when used in mental philosophy, may be
            thus stated; if I simply smell a rose, I have a
            sensation; if I refer that smell to the external
            object which occasioned it, I have a perception. Thus,
            the former is mere feeling, without the idea of an
            object; the latter is the mind's apprehension of some
            external object as occasioning that feeling.
            "Sensation properly expresses that change in the state
            of the mind which is produced by an impression upon an
            organ of sense (of which change we can conceive the
            mind to be conscious, without any knowledge of
            external objects). Perception, on the other hand,
            expresses the knowledge or the intimations we obtain
            by means of our sensations concerning the qualities of
            matter, and consequently involves, in every instance,
            the notion of externality, or outness, which it is
            necessary to exclude in order to seize the precise
            import of the word sensation." --Fleming.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  sensation
       n 1: an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation; "a
            sensation of touch" [syn: {sense experience}, {sense
            impression}, {sense datum}]
       2: someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field [syn: {ace},
          {adept}, {champion}, {maven}, {mavin}, {virtuoso}, {genius},
           {hotshot}, {star}, {superstar}, {whiz}, {whizz}, {wizard},
           {wiz}]
       3: a general feeling of excitement and heightened interest;
          "anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhere between
          hope and fear"
       4: a state of widespread public excitement and interest; "the
          news caused a sensation"
       5: the faculty through which the external world is apprehended;
          "in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses
          of smell and hearing" [syn: {sense}, {sentience}, {sentiency},
           {sensory faculty}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  111 Moby Thesaurus words for "sensation":
     affect, affection, amazement, astonishing thing, astonishment,
     awareness, bang, bean, best seller, big hit, bomb, bombshell, boot,
     brain, brilliant success, charge, commotion, consciousness,
     curiosity, emotion, emotional charge, emotional shade, encephalon,
     exception, excitement, experience, fad, feeling, feeling tone,
     flush, foreboding, funny feeling, gas, gasser, gazingstock,
     gray matter, great success, gut reaction, head, heartthrob, hit,
     hunch, impression, jollies, kick, killing, lift, marvel,
     marvelment, meteoric success, miracle, momentary success, noddle,
     noggin, nonesuch, noodle, organ of thought, passion, pate,
     perception, phenomenon, portent, prescience, presentiment, prodigy,
     profound sense, quite a thing, quiver, rarity, reaction,
     resounding triumph, response, riot, roaring success, rush,
     rush of emotion, sconce, seat of thought, sense, sensibility,
     sensitiveness, sensitivity, sensorium, sensory, sentiment, shiver,
     shudder, sight, smash, smash hit, sneaking suspicion,
     something else, spectacle, stir, stunner, success,
     surge of emotion, susceptibility, suspicion, thrill, tingle,
     tingling, titillation, tremor, tremor of excitement, triumph,
     undercurrent, wonder, wonderful thing, wonderment, wow