sensitive

[sen-si-tiv]

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.

noun

1. a person who is sensitive.

2. a person with psychic powers; medium.

sensitive

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• sensitively adverb
• nonsensitive adjective
• nonsensitively adverb
• nonsensitiveness noun
• ultrasensitive adjective
• ultrasensitively adverb
• unsensitive adjective
• unsensitively adverb
• unsensitiveness noun
• sensitiveness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensitive¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensitive¹

C14: from Medieval Latin sēnsitīvus, from Latin sentīre to feel

Example Sentences

"When I first spoke to scientists at the Cardamom Research Institute, they discouraged me. They said cardamom is too sensitive and difficult to grow organically."

Read more on BBC

Former federal prosecutor Jim Trusty enumerated to me in a recent podcast the more sensitive material that may be to come.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Lazizi Mara, the Kenyan company that owns and operates the Ritz-Carlton camp, disputed claims that it occupies a sensitive wildlife corridor, saying it had secured approvals and passed audits by the Kenyan environmental authority.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Shoppers are extra sensitive to the prices they constantly see, like food and gasoline costs, he noted.

Read more on MarketWatch

He still had red eyebrows, he was still heavier than usual from the shoot and he was “still a bit sensitive,” he said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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