sensitive

American  

[sen-si-tiv] / ˈsɛn sɪ tɪv /

adjective

1. endowed with sensation; having perception through the senses.

2. readily or excessively affected by external agencies or influences.

3. having acute mental or emotional sensibility; aware of and responsive to the feelings of others.

4. easily pained, annoyed, etc.

5. pertaining to or connected with the senses or sensation.

6. Physiology. having a low threshold of sensation or feeling.

7. responding to stimuli, as leaves that move when touched.

8. highly responsive to certain agents, as photographic plates, films, or paper.

9. affected or likely to be affected by a specified stimulus (used in combination).

   price-sensitive markets.

10. involving work, duties, or information of a highly secret or delicate nature, especially in government.

    a sensitive position in the State Department.

11. requiring tact or caution; delicate; touchy.

    a sensitive topic.

12. constructed to indicate, measure, or be affected by small amounts or changes, as a balance or thermometer.

13. Radio. easily affected by external influences, especially by radio waves.

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noun

1. a person who is sensitive.

2. a person with psychic powers; medium.

sensitive British  

/ ˈsɛnsɪtɪv /

adjective

1. having the power of sensation

2. responsive to or aware of feelings, moods, reactions, etc

3. easily irritated; delicate

   sensitive skin

4. affected by external conditions or stimuli

5. easily offended

6. of or relating to the senses or the power of sensation

7. capable of registering small differences or changes in amounts, quality, etc

   a sensitive instrument

8. photog having a high sensitivity

   a sensitive emulsion

9. connected with matters affecting national security, esp through access to classified information

10. (of a stock market or prices) quickly responsive to external influences and thus fluctuating or tending to fluctuate

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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

Using their highly sensitive Pico-C method, the researchers mapped the 3D arrangement of the fruit fly genome during these early stages.

From Science Daily

Mothers are still overwhelmingly the primary caregivers in American families, and tend to be more sensitive to the challenges of child-rearing than older men, who may have been less intimately involved in its daily struggles.

From Los Angeles Times

At record prices, buyers are becoming more price sensitive, so short-term pullbacks or consolidation are to be expected.

From The Wall Street Journal

It was Maggie and Kate who first became known to the Posts and others in Rochester as mediums— sensitive people able to communicate between the living and the dead.

From Literature

The same structural features that make these markets efficient prediction tools also make them vulnerable to abuse and manipulation—and to the transmission of sensitive signals to foreign adversaries.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• conscious
• delicate
• emotional
• hypersensitive
• keen
• nervous
• perceptive
• precise
• receptive
• responsive
• susceptible
• tense
• touchy
• tricky
• unstable