sensitize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to render sensitive.
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Photography. to render (a film or the like) sensitive to light or other forms of radiant energy.
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Immunology. to render sensitive to an antigenic substance.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to make or become sensitive
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(tr) to render (an individual) sensitive to a drug, allergen, etc
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(tr) photog to make (a material) sensitive to light or to other actinic radiation, esp to light of a particular colour, by coating it with a photographic emulsion often containing special chemicals, such as dyes
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sensitize
First recorded in 1855–60; sensit(ive) + -ize
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.
A well-known figure in the news in Rio, Moscatelli calls the capybaras by human names to sensitize humans to them.
From Slate • May 27, 2026
In patients with ATM alterations, which should sensitize tumors to ATR inhibitors, the ORR increased to 26.1%.
From Science Daily • Feb. 13, 2024
Others, like Odisha, have supplemented legal efforts by setting up memorials to victims at police stations in a bid to sensitize people.
From New York Times • May 13, 2023
To Bryant, having the national union host “Working” is a worthy extension of the foundation’s mission — and another way to sensitize Americans to the impact of unions.
From Washington Post • Sep. 7, 2021
Sometimes she would go into the workshop and help Arcadio sensitize the daguerreotype plates with an efficiency and a tenderness that ended up by confusing him.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
