Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sensation \Sen*sa"tion\, n. [Cf. F. sensation. See {Sensate}.]
   1. (Physiol.) An impression, or the consciousness of an
      impression, made upon the central nervous organ, through
      the medium of a sensory or afferent nerve or one of the
      organs of sense; a feeling, or state of consciousness,
      whether agreeable or disagreeable, produced either by an
      external object (stimulus), or by some change in the
      internal state of the body.

            Perception is only a special kind of knowledge, and
            sensation a special kind of feeling. . . . Knowledge
            and feeling, perception and sensation, though always
            coexistent, are always in the inverse ratio of each
            other.                                --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.

   2. A purely spiritual or psychical affection; agreeable or
      disagreeable feelings occasioned by objects that are not
      corporeal or material.

   3. A state of excited interest or feeling, or that which
      causes it.

            The sensation caused by the appearance of that work
            is still remembered by many.          --Brougham.

   Syn: Perception.

   Usage: {Sensation}, {Perseption}. The distinction between
          these words, when used in mental philosophy, may be
          thus stated; if I simply smell a rose, I have a
          sensation; if I refer that smell to the external
          object which occasioned it, I have a perception. Thus,
          the former is mere feeling, without the idea of an
          object; the latter is the mind's apprehension of some
          external object as occasioning that feeling.
          ``Sensation properly expresses that change in the
          state of the mind which is produced by an impression
          upon an organ of sense (of which change we can
          conceive the mind to be conscious, without any
          knowledge of external objects). Perception, on the
          other hand, expresses the knowledge or the intimations
          we obtain by means of our sensations concerning the
          qualities of matter, and consequently involves, in
          every instance, the notion of externality, or outness,
          which it is necessary to exclude in order to seize the
          precise import of the word sensation.'' --Fleming.

Source : WordNet®

sensation
     n 1: an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation; "a
          sensation of touch" [syn: {sense experience}, {sense
          impression}, {sense datum}]
     2: someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field [syn: {ace},
        {adept}, {champion}, {maven}, {mavin}, {virtuoso}, {genius},
         {hotshot}, {star}, {superstar}, {whiz}, {whizz}, {wizard},
         {wiz}]
     3: a general feeling of excitement and heightened interest;
        "anticipation produced in me a sensation somewhere between
        hope and fear"
     4: a state of widespread public excitement and interest; "the
        news caused a sensation"
     5: the faculty through which the external world is apprehended;
        "in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses
        of smell and hearing" [syn: {sense}, {sentience}, {sentiency},
         {sensory faculty}]