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hypersensitive

[hahy-per-sen-si-tiv]
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adjective
  1. excessively sensitive: to be hypersensitive to criticism.
  2. allergic to a substance to which persons do not normally react.
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Origin of hypersensitive

First recorded in 1870–75; hyper- + sensitive
Related formshy·per·sen·si·tive·ness, hy·per·sen·si·tiv·i·ty, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

trickyprecisetensekeensusceptiblenervousreceptiveconscioustouchyperceptiveunstabledelicateresponsiveemotionalhypersensitiveimpatientmercurialpetulantornerycapricious

Examples from the Web for hypersensitive

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It was no time for Clancy to be hypersensitive about Vandervent's honor.

    Find the Woman

    Arthur Somers Roche

  • A conscience newly aroused by her terrible tragedy and hypersensitive?

    Clark's Field

    Robert Herrick

  • He is hypersensitive and emotional, not argumentative and judicial.

  • Radowitz, in all matters connected with money, was hypersensitive and touchy.

    Lady Connie

    Mrs. Humphry Ward

  • The bald stubby man waddling forward looked neither calloused nor hypersensitive.

British Dictionary definitions for hypersensitive

hypersensitive

adjective
  1. having unduly vulnerable feelings
  2. abnormally sensitive to an allergen, a drug, or other agent
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Derived Formshypersensitiveness or hypersensitivity, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hypersensitive

adj.

1827, a hybrid from hyper- + sensitive. Related: Hypersensitivity.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
hypersensitive in Medicine

hypersensitive

(hī′pər-sĕn′sĭ-tĭv)
adj.
  1. Responding excessively to the stimulus of a foreign agent, such as an allergen; abnormally sensitive.
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Related formshy′per•sen′si•tive•ness null n.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.