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Glite Dictionary
sensory faculty

sensory faculty

5.6
An ability to see, hear, or feel the world
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛn.sə.ri ˈfæk.əl.ti/
translation icon : facultad sensorial
  • Loss of a sensory faculty can significantly impact a person's quality of life.

Examples

  • Animals rely on their sensory faculties to navigate their environment and find food.

  • In principle, the reliance of the human sensory faculties on air laid the ground for demonic interference.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The human sensory faculty of sight allows us to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Synonyms

sense
vssensory faculty
537 1.8

A physical ability to notice the world using sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch

is the slightly more technical label for the same bodily ability
faculty
vssensory faculty
48 5.8

A natural mental power such as memory or imagination

focuses only on physical perception rather than mental abilities like memory
sense modality
vssensory faculty
  • Specialized
1 5.5

A way the body notices things, such as sight or hearing

refers to one bodily ability rather than the whole perceptual system

How Sensitive

esthesia
  • Specialized
9.9
sensory faculty
5.6

Surface Forms

sensory faculty singular
sensory faculties plural

Morphology

sensory + faculty

The phrase is directly compositional: 'sensory' (relating to sensation) + 'faculty' (a natural power) yields 'a sensory ability' such as sight or hearing. This straightforward noun–noun conceptual combination follows common English and cross‑linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Sensory faculty comes from the words sensory (about the body's senses, like sight or hearing) and faculty (an old word for a natural 'ability'). So it paints a picture of each sense as a built-in power, and that's why we use sensory faculty to mean an ability such as sight, hearing, or touch.