'antisensuality' originates from Modern English, formed by the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti' meaning 'against') combined with 'sensuality' (from Latin 'sensualitas' from 'sensus' meaning 'sense').

'sensuality' comes from Latin 'sensualitas' (via Old French/Norman influence into Middle English as 'sensualite'/'sensuality'); the prefix 'anti-' (Greek) was attached in Modern English to create the compound 'antisensuality'.

Initially, 'sensuality' referred to matters of the senses; the compound 'antisensuality' emerged to denote opposition to sensory or bodily pleasures, and it has remained chiefly a descriptive or critical term for that stance in modern usage.