| 词组 | sensual, sensuous |
| 释义 | sensual, sensuous Sensuous was coined by John Milton in 1641 in order to avoid "certain associations"—to use the OED's phrase—of the much older word sensual. Sensuous seems to have existed only in Milton's works until Coleridge unearthed it in the early 19th century. Once it had been set in circulation, it became used quite commonly, and since its meaning was not far removed from some meanings of sensual, it began after a time to attract attention in usage books, many of which now distinguish between the two words. The consensus of the commentators, from Vizetelly 1906 to the present, is that sensuous emphasizes aesthetic pleasure while sensual emphasizes gratification or indulgence of the physical appetites. The distinction is true enough within one range of meanings, and it is worth remembering. The difficulty is that both words have more than one sense, and they tend often to occur in contexts where the distinction between them is not as clear-cut as the commentators would like it to be. Here are a few examples showing typical uses of sensual and sensuous, in some of which the prescribed distinction is clear, but in others of which it is not clear at all: • You or I will feel a poem sensuously: your Frenchman will receive sensuous pleasure from the fact that he has comprehended a poem intellectually —Archibald MacLeish, letter, March 1925 You would not believe it Lucinda, but I was very sensual. I believe it. • No, you're smiling. But I was, I really was. I lived in such an altered state that even the daylight sifting through a cloud would give me enormous shuddering response—E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake, 1979 • Yet in the work of Ernest Hemingway our sharpest memories are of sensuous experiences—primarily visual, though also at times involving hearing and smell and taste and touch —Barnard 1979 • Having placed in my mouth sufficient bread for three minutes' chewing, I withdrew my powers of sensual perception and retired into the privacy of my mind —Flann O'Brien, At Swim-Two-Birds, 1939 • Both men said that all sensuous qualities are mere appearances that result from different arrangements of the atoms —Morris Kline, Mathematics and the Search for Knowledge, 1985 • ... a fluffy zabaglione, that sensual blend of Marsala, egg yolks, and sugar —Geri Trotta, Gourmet, July 1982 • ... the delicacy and sensuously creamy qualities of Italian sweets at their best —C. P. Reynolds, Gourmet, April 1982 • Refinishing furniture was a minor occupation but a major pleasure of Eliza's. She had a sensual feeling for wood, for its smooth unvarnished touch —Alice Adams, Listening to Billie, 1977 • As long as the beat people abandon themselves to all sensual satisfactions, on principle, you can't take them for anything but false mystics —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 21 June 1959 • It is her creed she is pronouncing, of feverish enjoyment, without distinction between sensuous delight and sensual pleasure —Mary McCarthy, Occasional Prose, 1985 If you feel doubt about which word to choose in a particular context, we recommend consulting a dictionary, particularly one which devotes itself to, or includes within its apparatus, discrimination of the meanings of closely related words. |
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