senselessとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From sense +‎ -less. Compare Saterland Frisian sinloos (“senseless, foolish”).

発音

• IPA: /ˈsɛnsləs/
• ハイフネーション: sense‧less

形容詞

senseless (comparative more senseless, superlative most senseless)

1. Without feeling or desire to work; deprived of sensation.

   Synonyms: unconscious, insensible

   The blow to his head rendered him senseless; he didn’t awaken until he was in the ambulance.

   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Revolt of Islam; […], London: […] [F]or C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […]; by B[uchanan] M‘Millan, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     That hoary man had spent his livelong age / In converse with the dead, who leave the stamp / Of ever-burning thoughts on many a page, / When they are gone into the senseless damp / Of graves; […]

2. Lacking meaning or purpose; without common sense.

   Synonyms: pointless, meaningless

   What a senseless waste of money.

3. Without a discernible meaning or purpose, especially of a violent or evil act.

   The school shooting was a senseless act of violence.

   • 2023 December 22, Ivana Kottasová, “Prague in shock and horror after ‘senseless’ shooting attack leaves 14 dead”, in CNN‎:

     Addressing the nation on Thursday, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala called the shooting “a senseless attack” and said “this Christmas will be unimaginably sad.”

   • 2024 July 24, Emma Tucker and Bill Kirkos, “What we know about the deputy charged with killing Sonya Massey in her home after she called 911 for help”, in CNN‎:

     At the news conference, Crump called her killing “senseless on every level.”

4. Without consideration, awareness or sound judgement

   Synonyms: unreasonable, unwise, stupid

   He took senseless risks, not even aware of the danger he was in.

   • 1762, Horace Walpole, “State of Painting from the Reign of Henry III. to the End of Henry VI.”, in Anecdotes of Painting in England; […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Farmer […], →OCLC, pages 39–40:

     [T]he King vvas obliged to qualify his grant, by eſtabliſhing betvveen the contending parties a rotation of ſeniority, each to take place alternately for a year, the ſurvivor to precede for his life the heir of the other, and ſo in perpetuum. A ſenſeleſs jumble, ſoon liquidated by a more egregious act of folly, the King vvith his ovvn hand crovvning the young Duke of VVarvvick King of the Iſle of VVight— […]

関連する語

• sense
• senseful
• senselessly
• senselessness

参考

• (deprived of sensation): ageusia, analgesia, anosmia, blind, deaf, hypoesthesia, numbness, paralysis

参照

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “senseless”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “senseless”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.