"not affecting the senses," 1851, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + sensuous. Related: Insensuously; insensuousness.
Entries linking to insensuous
in- 1
word-forming element meaning "not, opposite of, without" (also im-, il-, ir- by assimilation of -n- with following consonant, a tendency which began in later Latin), from Latin in- "not," cognate with Greek an-, Old English un-, all from PIE root *ne- "not."
In Old French and Middle English often en-, but most of these forms have not survived in Modern English, and the few that do (enemy, for instance) no longer are felt as negative. The rule of thumb in English has been to use in- with obviously Latin elements, un- with native or nativized ones.
sensuous adj.
1640s, "pertaining to or derived from the senses" From Latin sensus (seesense (n.)) + -ous. Apparently coined by Milton to recover the not unfavorable original meaning of sensual and avoid the lascivious connotation the older word had acquired. It was popularized by Coleridge to "express in one word all that appertains to the perception, considered as passive and merely recipient" (1814), and OED reports that "evidence of its use in the intervening period is wanting." By 1870 sensuous, too, had started down the voluptuary path and come to mean "alive to the pleasures of the senses." Related: Sensuously; sensuousness; sensuosity.