Sensual play is a generic term which refers to a variety of forms of sensual play. It must be understood that sensual, as referred here, does not mean (or relate to) only sexual appeal.

This comprehension can be extracted of etymological and semantic issues. For what, lato sensu, "sensual" is all that reports to a sense

Sense

Senses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide inputs for perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...

 — all and everyone existing in human life. So that "sensual play", also sensual touch, means all forms of sense-playing or sense-touching one that can recognize, say, "sense" it. This most extensive comprehension, furthermore, includes all living things, not only or exclusively human being.

Pointed in this manner, the denotative versus connotative meaning of the term, expression or word, stands up for saying: the above generic comprehension seems to be useful; in fact shows it by bonding or joining several apparently non-consensual meanings.

Despite of this, however, the most frequent or usual, current comprehension claims to "sexual play" or "sexual touch", more when referring to or related to human experiences, say senses.

The term may include forms of pain play for those who like pain but more often the term is used to refer to more subtle sensations. Sensual play can include feathers, tickling

Tickling

Tickling is the act of touching a part of the body so as to cause involuntary twitching movements and/or laughter. The word evolved from the Middle English tikelen, perhaps frequentative of ticken, to touch lightly. The idiom tickled pink means to be pleased or delighted.In 1897, psychologists G...

, temperature play

Temperature play

Temperature play is a form of BDSM sensual play where objects and substances are used to stimulate the body's neuroreceptors for heat and cold for sensual effect...

 including wax play

Wax play

Wax play is a form of sensual play involving warm or hot wax usually dripped from candles or ladled onto a person's naked skin. Wax play may be combined with other BDSM or sexual activity....

 and ice play, food play, light caresses, very light flogging or spanking

Spanking

Spanking refers to the act of striking the buttocks of another person to cause temporary pain without producing physical injury. It generally involves one person striking the buttocks of another person with an open hand. When an open hand is used, spanking is referred to in some countries as...

, sensual massage

Massage

Massage is the manipulation of superficial and deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance function, aid in the healing process, and promote relaxation and well-being. The word comes from the French massage "friction of kneading", or from Arabic massa meaning "to touch, feel or handle"...

, drumming fingers, sensory deprivation

Sensory deprivation

Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing respectively, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch,...

, soft music, candlelight, and a variety of other things which stimulate our tactile, heat, cold, auditory

Sound

Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...

, olfactory

Olfaction

Olfaction is the sense of smell. This sense is mediated by specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity of vertebrates, and, by analogy, sensory cells of the antennae of invertebrates...

, and visual

Visual system

The visual system is the part of the central nervous system which enables organisms to process visual detail, as well as enabling several non-image forming photoresponse functions. It interprets information from visible light to build a representation of the surrounding world...

 neuroreceptors.

See also

• Alternative sexuality
• BDSM
  BDSM
  BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
  
  
• Outercourse
• Sense
  Sense
  Senses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide inputs for perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...
  
  
• Sensuality
• Human sexual behavior
  Human sexual behavior
  Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...