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as in unconscious
having lost consciousness if a choking person is insensible, you should lay them down on their back before performing the Heimlich maneuver

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as in insensate
lacking animate awareness or sensation even the canyon's insensible rocks seemed to mock the stranded climber's utter helplessness

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of insensible The ‘real’ Camille, meanwhile, has become an insensible, comatose carcass, although no one seems to notice. Damon Wise, Deadline, 24 Jan. 2025 Foreman tumbled downward in a dizzy, slow-motion-like crash, full-weight, a helpless giant, insensible. Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2025 Or lobbyists can sometimes intervene and gain insensible exemptions from bans. IEEE Spectrum, 10 Feb. 2024 But the Cylinder Sling by Building Block flirts with such attitude without becoming rude or insensible. Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2022 The novel positions him as insensible to agendas, hopelessly subject to the whims of the altruistic and the cruel. Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2022 Armando Iannucci’s brilliant 2017 farce, The Death of Stalin, explores that question on a literal plane, with Stalin’s deputies frantically maneuvering for position while Stalin, not yet entirely dead, lies insensible and unattended on the floor. Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 22 Apr. 2022 Combat troops get inured to death, but Yaroslav’s comrades seemed to me beyond inured, insensible. New York Times, 16 Jan. 2022 Being sick also can lead to insensible fluid loss, such as sweating from fever or blowing your nose, Rosner says, while vomiting or diarrhea can exacerbate fluid loss. Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insensible
Adjective
  • The victim was unconscious and had bruises on his face and body when the couple dropped him at Downstate Medical Center in East Flatbush Saturday.
    Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 10 Mar. 2025
  • According to local newspaper The Korea Times, Wheesung was discovered unconscious in his apartment in Seoul’s northern Gwangjin-gu district at 6:29 p.m.
    Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The observatory will create a map of the sky in 102 colors of infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye and ideal for studying stars and galaxies.
    Ashley Strickland, CNN, 8 Mar. 2025
  • The invisible force is a powerful, primal motivator.
    Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • There’s a certain undone sophistication in my work—think bourgeois meets grunge, or couture sensibility with a nonchalant attitude.
    Felicity Carter, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
  • Hinged on nonchalant tailoring with whiffs of countryside chic, the fall 2025 collection codesigned by the husband-and-wife duo debuts Wednesday during Milan Fashion Week.
    Martino Carrera, WWD, 25 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • 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
  • There is a ring on my finger that, to quote Rhett Butler, is the biggest and most vulgar ring in Atlanta (Maine), and a six-course, all-cheese dinner is awaiting us afterward.
    Christine Murphy, People.com, 5 Mar. 2025
  • This goes double for vulgar and hateful content, which is a growing problem across social media.
    Ella Cerón, Parents, 27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Musk’s blind and ignorant closing of USAID has blacked out our billboard to the world of what America is about.
    Llewellyn King, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Feb. 2025
  • For one thing, Overstreet seemed set on portraying Black history in a way that was neither overly dour nor entirely ignorant of past violence.
    Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 4 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • By sinking the building into the ground, the architects have created a space that remains almost imperceptible from above.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Mar. 2025
  • And the sorts of dollar amounts for this work — for wildlife conservation, overall — are almost imperceptible compared to other federal line items.
    Benji Jones, Vox, 26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Compensatory picks, while typically lower rounds are definitely underrated by the casual fan.
    Mark Davis, Newsweek, 15 Mar. 2025
  • Another element she’s borrowed from Prince is a sense of casual virtuosity.
    Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rolling Stone, 15 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Insensible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insensible. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.

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