It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 6th.
Today's word is Sensibility, spelled S-E-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y.
Sensibility is a noun.
It's a formal word, often used in its plural form,
to refer to someone's personal or cultural approach to what they encounter,
as in, the speaker made sure to tailor his speech to the sensibilities of his audience.
Sensibility can also be used for the kind of feelings a person tends to have in general,
as well as the ability to feel and understand emotions.
Here's the word used in a sentence from Pitchfork.
Lady Gaga's absurdist sensibilities have long been an underrated facet of her work,
probably because she's so good at delivering them with a straight face.
The meanings of the word sensibility run the gamut from mere sensation to excessive sentimentality,
but we're here to help you make sense of it all.
In between is a capacity for delicate appreciation, a sense often pluralized.
In Jane Austen's books,
sensibility is mostly an admirable quality she attributes to or finds lacking in her characters.
He had a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely of Mr.
Elliot in Persuasion, for example.
In Sense and Sensibility, however,
Austen starts out by ascribing to Marianne sensibleness on the one hand,