sensitive

/ˈsɛnsədɪv/

/ˈsɛnsɪtɪv/

Other forms: sensitives

Sensitive describes something or someone who reacts quickly and strongly. It's often something to protect — like baby skin, government documents, or a fragile ecosystem.

Anything sensitive should be treated with special care. It can mean "raw or hurting" when talking about a part of the body. After people visit the dentist, their gums are often sensitive because of the way that big angry lady cleaned their teeth. Sensitive people get their feelings hurt easily. Sensitive documents have big secrets that shouldn't get out. A sensitive tape recorder catches all the little background sounds. Now you should have a sense of the word sensitive.

Definitions of sensitive

1. adjective

   responsive to physical stimuli
   “a mimosa's leaves are sensitive to touch”

   “a sensitive voltmeter”

   “sensitive skin”

   “sensitive to light”

   synonyms:

   responsive

   readily reacting or replying to people or events or stimuli; showing emotion

   sensible

   able to feel or perceive

   delicate

   of an instrument or device; capable of registering minute differences or changes precisely

   erogenous

   sensitive to sexual stimulation

   excitable, irritable

   capable of responding to stimuli

   highly sensitive

   readily affected by various agents

   irritable

   abnormally sensitive to a stimulus

   light-sensitive, photosensitive

   sensitive to visible light

   radiosensitive

   sensitive to radiation

   nociceptive

   caused by or in response to pain

   reactive, responsive

   reacting to a stimulus

   susceptible

   (often followed by `of' or `to') yielding readily to or capable of

   antonyms:

   insensitive

   not responsive to physical stimuli

   unresponsive

   not responding to some influence or stimulus

   insensible

   incapable of physical sensation

   dead, deadened

   devoid of physical sensation; numb

   unreactive

   not tending to react to stimulation

   insusceptible, unsusceptible

   not susceptible to
2. adjective

   able to feel or perceive
   synonyms: sensible

   aware, cognisant, cognizant

   having or showing knowledge or understanding or realization or perception (sometimes followed by 'of')

   conscious

   knowing and perceiving; having awareness of surroundings and sensations and thoughts
3. adjective

   being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others
   “sensitive to the local community and its needs”

   synonyms:

   responsive

   readily reacting or replying to people or events or stimuli; showing emotion

   alive

   (followed by `to' or `of') aware of

   feisty, huffy, thin-skinned, touchy

   quick to take offense

   oversensitive

   unduly sensitive or thin-skinned

   antonyms:

   insensitive

   deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive

   hard

   dispassionate

   unresponsive

   not responding to some influence or stimulus

   insensible

   incapable of physical sensation

   callous, indurate, pachydermatous

   emotionally hardened

   dead, numb

   (followed by `to') not showing human feeling or sensitivity; unresponsive

   dull

   blunted in responsiveness or sensibility

   insensible, unaffected

   unaware of or indifferent to

   soulless

   lacking sensitivity or the capacity for deep feeling

   thick-skinned, tough-skinned

   insensitive to criticism

   tough

   not given to gentleness or sentimentality
4. adjective

   hurting
   synonyms: raw, sore, tender

   painful

   causing physical or psychological pain
5. adjective

   of or pertaining to classified information or matters affecting national security
   synonyms:

   classified

   official classification of information or documents; withheld from general circulation
6. noun

   someone who serves as an intermediary between the living and the dead
   synonyms: medium, spiritualist

   type of:

   psychic

   a person apparently sensitive to things beyond the natural range of perception