sensual

sensual, sensuous

1. Sensual is the older word (15c), and originally described feelings that involved the senses as distinct from the intellect. As it became more closely associated with aspects of physical indulgence characterized by the expression sensual pleasure (principally sexual but also to do with food), sensuous came into use (first apparently by Milton in 1641) to take over the meanings that sensual had once had in relation to aesthetic rather than carnal sensations.

2. In current usage, this distinction holds good for those who want a rule: (sensual)

• Modigliani appreciated Kisling for what he was, a sweet-natured, high-spirited, sensual young man —J. Rose, 1990

• The Hindu god of love, Kama, is the husband of Rati, the goddess of sensual desire —P. Allardice, 1990

• A good slow, deep, seductive, sensual, sexual kiss can be the very thing that sends someone over the edge in my opinion —weblog, BrE 2005

• (sensuous) All the sensuous elements of the previous years have been banished; colour has been reduced to a severe combination of browns, dull greens and greys —J. Golding, 1988

• The passage exemplifies the distancing effect of simile, and the more sensuous effect of metaphor —E. Black, 1993.

3. But in the hurly-burly of general usage the meanings are too close, and sensuous has begun to go the way of sensual, especially in modern popular fiction:

• He looked forward to this drink, the first of the day, with a sensuous desire —Barbara Vine, 1987

• There was something extremely sensuous about having a man dry her hair, especially this man —A. Murray, 1993.

Although the complex subtleties of sense perception cause meanings to merge into one another, it is prudent to remember the basic distinction when using these words, so that sensuous can retain its full force of meaning in uses that are primarily to do with aesthetics, for example in the context of music or poetry:

• Cesti's great gift was for melody: sensuous and eminently singable —G. Abraham, 1985.