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Henry74 Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary
Sensible/sensitive
Hi,
I was talking with a friend about piloting with your left hand. As you may or may not know, Airbus aircraft don't have a traditional yoke but a "joystick" which is positioned to your left if you are the pilot, and to your right if you are the co-pilot.
I wanted to say that since most people are right-handed
- Airbus pilots are forced to control the plane with their less ____ hand.
I ended up saying "with their weaker hand" because I couldn't decide between sensible or sensitive.
Both "sensible" and "sensitive" are often listed as false friends for native speakers of Italian because our "sensibile" doesn't have a meaning related to judgment, and our "sensitivo" means psychic.
I thought I'd be safe using "sensible" only when meaning "reasonable" and "sensitive" in relation to senses. It turns out things are not that simple as a sensory meaning is also given for "sensible" in dictionaries.
M-W has "capable of receiving sensory impressions. E.g. Sensible to pain".
Collins has "having the capacity for sensation. Sensitive."
So now I'm a little confused. Is there an actual difference in meaning other than the fact that "sensible" has the additional meaning of reasonable? Is the difference one in collocation rather than meaning per se? Which one, if any, would you have used in my sentence?
Can you please help me?
Thank you
H.
I was talking with a friend about piloting with your left hand. As you may or may not know, Airbus aircraft don't have a traditional yoke but a "joystick" which is positioned to your left if you are the pilot, and to your right if you are the co-pilot.
I wanted to say that since most people are right-handed
- Airbus pilots are forced to control the plane with their less ____ hand.
I ended up saying "with their weaker hand" because I couldn't decide between sensible or sensitive.
Both "sensible" and "sensitive" are often listed as false friends for native speakers of Italian because our "sensibile" doesn't have a meaning related to judgment, and our "sensitivo" means psychic.
I thought I'd be safe using "sensible" only when meaning "reasonable" and "sensitive" in relation to senses. It turns out things are not that simple as a sensory meaning is also given for "sensible" in dictionaries.
M-W has "capable of receiving sensory impressions. E.g. Sensible to pain".
Collins has "having the capacity for sensation. Sensitive."
So now I'm a little confused. Is there an actual difference in meaning other than the fact that "sensible" has the additional meaning of reasonable? Is the difference one in collocation rather than meaning per se? Which one, if any, would you have used in my sentence?
Can you please help me?
Thank you
H.
Top answer
Henry74 I ended up saying "with their weaker hand" because I couldn't decide between sensible or sensitive. I would have said the same. One's skin is sensitive if it is easily irritated by, for example, harsh soaps.
- Henry74 I ended up saying "with their weaker hand" because I couldn't decide between sensible or sensitive.
- I would have said the same.
- One's skin is sensitive if it is easily irritated by, for example, harsh soaps.
- A tooth that is decayed can be sensitive to hot or cold.
- A sensitive person has their feelings easily hurt by a snide remark.
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5 Answers
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Henry74I ended up saying "with their weaker hand" because I couldn't decide between sensible or sensitive.I would have said the same.
One's skin is sensitive if it is easily irritated by, for example, harsh soaps.
A tooth that is decayed can be sensitive to hot or cold.
A sensitive person has their feelings easily hurt by a snide remark.
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Henry74Which one, if any, would you have used in my sentence?I would have avoided the confusion by using "less dextrous" or "non-dominant".
If you're right-handed, we say that your right hand is your dominant hand. I prefer to avoid "non-dominant", so I'd put a negation earlier in the sentence.
(As a result [of whatever]), most Airbus pilot
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Henry74Both "sensible" and "sensitive" are often listed as false friends for native speakers of ItalianAnd for us English speakers who are learning a Romance language. The difficulty goes both ways, of course.
Henry74M-W has "capable of receiving sensory impressions. E.g. Sensible to pain".That sounds like a specialized m
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Thank you AS and Jim.
It seems that the "false friendship" between our very similar words has to be extended to include the English "dextrous".
In Italian we commonly use "sensibile/sensibilità" to refer to someone's ability to react quickly and precisely to stimuli.
We speak of a tennis player's "sensibilità" with his arm, or of a pilot's "sensibilità" with his hands.
You don
It seems that the "false friendship" between our very similar words has to be extended to include the English "dextrous".
In Italian we commonly use "sensibile/sensibilità" to refer to someone's ability to react quickly and precisely to stimuli.
We speak of a tennis player's "sensibilità" with his arm, or of a pilot's "sensibilità" with his hands.
You don
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Henry74You don't seem to use either "sensibility" or "sensitivity" in that sense.No, we don't. Or if we do, I haven't noticed it.
Henry74You are clairvoyant.Lucky guess.
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