SENSITIVITY

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sensitivity mean? 

• SENSITIVITY (noun)
  The noun SENSITIVITY has 5 senses:

1. (physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation

2. the ability to respond to physical stimuli or to register small physical amounts or differences

3. sensitivity to emotional feelings (of self and others)

4. susceptibility to a pathogen

5. the ability to respond to affective changes in your interpersonal environment

  Familiarity information: SENSITIVITY used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SENSITIVITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(physiology) responsiveness to external stimuli; the faculty of sensation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

sensibility; sensitiveness; sensitivity

Context example:

sensitivity to pain

Hypernyms ("sensitivity" is a kind of...):

sensation; sense; sensory faculty; sentience; sentiency (the faculty through which the external world is apprehended)

Domain category:

physiology (the branch of the biological sciences dealing with the functioning of organisms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sensitivity"):

interoception (sensitivity to stimuli originating inside of the body)

photosensitivity; radiosensitivity (sensitivity to the action of radiant energy)

exteroception (sensitivity to stimuli originating outside of the body)

reactivity; responsiveness (responsive to stimulation)

hypersensitivity (extreme sensitivity)

acuteness (a sensitivity that is keen and highly developed)

Derivation:

sensitive (hurting)

sensitive (responsive to physical stimuli)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The ability to respond to physical stimuli or to register small physical amounts or differences

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

sensitiveness; sensitivity

Context example:

the sensitiveness of Mimosa leaves does not depend on a change of growth

Hypernyms ("sensitivity" is a kind of...):

physical property (any property used to characterize matter and energy and their interactions)

Attribute:

sensitive (responsive to physical stimuli)

insensitive (not responsive to physical stimuli)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sensitivity"):

frequency response ((electronics) a curve representing the output-to-input ratio of a transducer as a function of frequency)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Sensitivity to emotional feelings (of self and others)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

sensitiveness; sensitivity

Hypernyms ("sensitivity" is a kind of...):

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

Attribute:

sensitive (being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others)

insensitive (deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sensitivity"):

oversensitiveness (sensitivity leading to easy irritation or upset)

sensibility (refined sensitivity to pleasurable or painful impressions)

feelings (emotional or moral sensitivity (especially in relation to personal principles or dignity))

Derivation:

sensitive (being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Susceptibility to a pathogen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

predisposition; sensitivity

Hypernyms ("sensitivity" is a kind of...):

susceptibility; susceptibleness (the state of being susceptible; easily affected)

Attribute:

sensitising; sensitizing (making susceptible or sensitive to either physical or emotional stimuli)

desensitising; desensitizing (making less susceptible or sensitive to either physical or emotional stimuli)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sensitivity"):

habitus (person's predisposition to be affected by something (as a disease))

sensitisation; sensitization (the state of being sensitive (as to an antigen))

hypersensitivity (pathological sensitivity)

diathesis (constitutional predisposition to a particular disease or abnormality)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The ability to respond to affective changes in your interpersonal environment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

sensitiveness; sensitivity

Hypernyms ("sensitivity" is a kind of...):

ability (the quality of being able to perform; a quality that permits or facilitates achievement or accomplishment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sensitivity"):

defensiveness (excessive sensitivity to criticism)

perceptiveness (the quality of insight and sympathetic understanding)

antenna; feeler (sensitivity similar to that of a receptor organ)

Antonym:

insensitivity (the inability to respond to affective changes in your interpersonal environment)

Derivation:

sensitive (being susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others)

 Context examples 

When the researchers added normal immune cells back into the engineered mice, their insulin sensitivity improved and atherosclerosis declined.

(How Vitamin D May Affect Heart Disease, Diabetes, NIH)

Consisting of abnormally decreased sensitivity, particularly to touch.

(Arm Or Hand Hypoesthesia, Food and Drug Administration)

Research has found that breastfeeding increases insulin sensitivity and improves glucose metabolism in the mother.

(Breastfeeding may help prevent type 2 diabetes after gestational diabetes, NIH)

But a study suggests that using the glycemic index to select foods may not improve insulin sensitivity, lower HDL or LDL lipid levels or reduce blood pressure levels.

(Low-glycemic diets may not improve cardiovascular outcomes when compared to high-glycemic diets, NIH)

The results showed that learning to categorize the sounds had increased the brain's sensitivity to the acoustic features that distinguished one sound from another.

(How does the brain learn categorization for sounds? The same way it does for images, National Science Foundation)

The line is a valuable in vitro host system for oncogenic virus transformation studies since 3T3 cells possess a high sensitivity to contact inhibition.

(NIH/3T3, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The CaMKII multimer can autophosphorylate either the autoregulatory domain or the CaM-binding domain, producing diverse effects in its regulation and sensitivity to Calcium/CaM.

(Calmodulin Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

As a result, separation occurs more quickly and sensitivity is increased.

(Capillary Electrophoresis, NCI Thesaurus)

A substance applied directly to the surface of a tooth to reduce sensitivity.

(Dentin Desensitizer, NCI Thesaurus)

The level of impairment varies from a mild but important loss of sensitivity to a total loss of hearing.

(Deafness, NCI Thesaurus)