Full record for sentient adj.

Definition	=sapient or intelligent
OED requirements	antedating 1920
Earliest cite	Punch magazine
Comment	Malcolm Farmer submitted a citation from a 2001 reprint of Alastair Reynolds' 2000 "Revelation Space" . Malcolm Farmer submitted a 1992 citation from Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep". Malcolm Farmer submitted a cite from a 1956 reprint of Eric Frank Russell's "The Witness". Malcolm Farmer suggested and Jeff Prucher located a cite from a 1993 reprint of Terry Bisson's 1991 "They're Made Out Of Meat". Douglas Winston submitted a 1976 cite from Jack L. Chalker's "A Jungle of Stars" Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1965 reprint of Henry Kuttner's "The Time Axis": Fred Galvin verified this cite in its 1949 first publication. Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1965 reprint of James Blish's "The Warriors of Day"; we would like to verify this in the 1951 original. Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 1976 reprint of Larry Niven's 1970 "Ringworld". Douglas Winston submitted a 1999 cite from Diane Duane's "Storm at Eldala". Douglas Winston submitted a 2001 cite from David Gerrold's "Bouncing Off the Moon". Douglas Winson submitted a 2001 cite from Timothy Zahn's "Angelmass" Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a reprint of Margaret St. Clair's 1950 "The Pillows"; we would like to verify this in its original publication. Douglas Winston submitted a 1991 cite from Dana Stabenow's "Second Star". Fred Galvin sent in a cite from a 1957 reprint of Raymond Z. Gallun's "Seeds of the Dusk". Mike Christie verified this in the 1938 first publication. Malcolm Farmer submitted a 1978 cite quoting an editorial comment to an Edmond Hamilton story: Alistair Durie verified this in the original 1930 publication. Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1984 reprint of "The Lost Machine" by John B. Harris (The real name of, and one of the several by-lines used by, the author commonly known as "John Wyndham"), which Alistair Durie verified in its 1932 first publication. Malcolm Farmer submitted a 1920 cite from Punch magazine. The OED has definitions relating to feeling or sensation, but not to intelligence.
Last modified	6 July, 2008

Citations for sentient adj.

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1947 G. O. Smith Kingdom of Blind in Startling Stories July 48/1	Secondly, the true schizophrenic paranoid cannot rail against a mechanistic fate. He must find some sentience to fight, some evil mind to combat. For the paranoid feels that he can win in the end, which of course would be impossible against a case of mechanistic doom. Therefore Carroll needed some sentient manifestation of this doom, something that he could strike at, fight against. Therefore he has accused an ‘alien culture’ of tampering with the records to prevent us from knowing the truth.
1949 H. Kuttner Time Axis Jan. xxv. 80/2	Imponderable forces shifted when that cleavage took place. You and I know nothing about it, for it happened far beyond the perceptions of any sentient creature. But it happened. Oh yes, it happened.
1949 H. Kuttner Time Axis Jan. xxiv. 78/1	If you can imagine a sharp tool made sentient, you may guess a little of how what followed seemed to us, who were so integral a part of the tremendous conflict, the ultimate destruction.
1950 M. St. Clair Pillows in Thrilling Wonder Stories June 138/2	In the third place—This was where Kent's mind jibbed. Really, it was no more fantastic than the assumption he had already made, without much mental discomfort, that they could influence the flow of events. But this was something that every human being, that every sentient being, takes for granted every moment of his life. To endow the pillows with this ability was to fracture the supporting column of the Universe.
1976 J. L. Chalker Jungle of Stars 43	He'll come like a thief in the night—and in heavy disguise. He could be anybody—or anything—at all, any sentient beastie in the galaxy.
1985 M. W. Bonanno Dwellers in Crucible i.8	She had been instructed from birth in the equality of all sentient life forms.
1991 D. Stabenow Second Star iv. 97	Caleb transferred his slack-jawed stare to the ceiling pickup, and said wonderingly, ‘He sounds almost sentient.’
1991 O. S. Card Xenocide xv. 338	Sentient life is sentient life.
1992 L. A. Graf Ice Trap ii. 25	The Kitka are apparently the only sentient species known to have developed in an environment like this.
1993 V. E. Mitchell Windows on Lost World xii. 147	He set the computer to searching for data on the statistical distribution of sentient races through time.
1998 G. Cox Assignment: Eternity ii. 23	My superiors‥are occupied elsewhere in the galaxy, safeguarding the development of sentient races.
1998 L. A. Graf & M. J. Friedman War Dragons xiv. 209	Members of the Federation are taught‥to abhor the extinction of any sentient alien race.
1999 M.J. Friedman My Brother's Keeper ii. ii. 23	It still carried upward of four hundred sentient beings through the vastness of space.
1999 M.J. Friedman My Brother's Keeper iii. ix. 120	No other signs of sentient life.