adj.
- Capable of perceiving with a sense or senses.
- Responsive to external conditions or stimulation.
- Susceptible to the attitudes, feelings, or circumstances of others.
- Quick to take offense; touchy.
- Easily irritated: sensitive skin.
- Readily altered by the action of an agent: film that is sensitive to light.
- Registering very slight differences or changes of condition. Used of an instrument.
- Fluctuating or tending to fluctuate, as in price: sensitive stocks.
- Of or relating to classified information: sensitive defense data; holds a sensitive position in the State Department.
- A sensitive person.
- One held to be endowed with psychic or occult powers.
[Middle English, from Old French sensitif, from Medieval Latin sēnsitīvus, from Latin sēnsus, sense. See sense.]
sensitively sen'si·tive·ly adv.sensitiveness sen'si·tive·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
