sensitive
Americanadjective
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endowed with sensation; having perception through the senses.
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readily or excessively affected by external agencies or influences.
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having acute mental or emotional sensibility; aware of and responsive to the feelings of others.
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easily pained, annoyed, etc.
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Physiology. having a low threshold of sensation or feeling.
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responding to stimuli, as leaves that move when touched.
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highly responsive to certain agents, as photographic plates, films, or paper.
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affected or likely to be affected by a specified stimulus (used in combination).
price-sensitive markets.
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involving work, duties, or information of a highly secret or delicate nature, especially in government.
a sensitive position in the State Department.
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requiring tact or caution; delicate; touchy.
a sensitive topic.
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constructed to indicate, measure, or be affected by small amounts or changes, as a balance or thermometer.
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Radio. easily affected by external influences, especially by radio waves.
noun
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a person who is sensitive.
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a person with psychic powers; medium.
adjective
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having the power of sensation
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responsive to or aware of feelings, moods, reactions, etc
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easily irritated; delicate
sensitive skin
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affected by external conditions or stimuli
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easily offended
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of or relating to the senses or the power of sensation
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capable of registering small differences or changes in amounts, quality, etc
a sensitive instrument
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photog having a high sensitivity
a sensitive emulsion
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connected with matters affecting national security, esp through access to classified information
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(of a stock market or prices) quickly responsive to external influences and thus fluctuating or tending to fluctuate
Other Word Forms
- nonsensitive adjective
- nonsensitively adverb
- nonsensitiveness noun
- sensitively adverb
- sensitiveness noun
- ultrasensitive adjective
- ultrasensitively adverb
- unsensitive adjective
- unsensitively adverb
- unsensitiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of sensitive
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Medieval Latin sēnsitīvus, irregular formation from Latin sēns(us) “felt” (past participle of sentīre “to feel”) + -īvus -ive; replacing Middle English sensitif(e), from Middle French sensitif, sensitive, from Medieval Latin, as above; sense
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We have a lot of developers in town who are really trying to be sensitive to fitting in to the neighborhood.”
From Los Angeles Times
Meta said that as with any recording device, people using smart glasses should not engage in "harmful activities like harassment, infringing privacy rights, or capturing sensitive information."
From BBC
In January 2025, Chinese startup DeepSeek shook the tech world with a low-cost, high-performance reasoning model that upended assumptions of US dominance in the sensitive sector.
From Barron's
Stocks sensitive to commodity prices are already off to a strong start.
From MarketWatch
Stocks sensitive to commodity prices are already off to a strong start.
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
