INSENSITIVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does insensitive mean? 

• INSENSITIVE (adjective)
  The adjective INSENSITIVE has 2 senses:

1. not responsive to physical stimuli

2. deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive

  Familiarity information: INSENSITIVE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INSENSITIVE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not responsive to physical stimuli

Context example:

insensitive to radiation

Similar:

dead; deadened (devoid of physical sensation; numb)

unreactive (not tending to react to stimulation)

Also:

unresponsive (not responding to some influence or stimulus)

insensible (incapable of physical sensation)

insusceptible; unsusceptible (not susceptible to)

Attribute:

sensitiveness; sensitivity (the ability to respond to physical stimuli or to register small physical amounts or differences)

Antonym:

sensitive (responsive to physical stimuli)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive

Context example:

insensitive to the needs of the patients

Similar:

thick-skinned; tough-skinned (insensitive to criticism)

soulless (lacking sensitivity or the capacity for deep feeling)

insensible; unaffected (unaware of or indifferent to)

callous; indurate; pachydermatous (emotionally hardened)

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

dull (blunted in responsiveness or sensibility)

Also:

tough (not given to gentleness or sentimentality)

insensible (incapable of physical sensation)

unresponsive (not responding to some influence or stimulus)

hard (dispassionate)

Attribute:

sensitiveness; sensitivity (sensitivity to emotional feelings (of self and others))

Antonym:

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

Derivation:

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

 Context examples 

Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) Does the patient say things to people that are insensitive or hurt their feelings?

(NPI - Say Things to People that are Insensitive, NCI Thesaurus)

Guanine nucleotide binding protein is a member of a G protein subfamily that mediates signal transduction; component of pertussis toxin-insensitive (PTX) heterotrimeric G-protein complexes.

(Guanine Nucleotide-Binding Protein G(z) Subunit Alpha, NCI Thesaurus)

These chemokine receptors can also signal through a Gi-independent pertussis toxin-insensitive pathway.

(CCR5 Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

They found that the target neurons belong to two broad categories, both of which were insensitive to gentle stimulation.

(Study uncovers specialized mouse neurons that play a unique role in pain, National Institutes of Health)

In the study, researchers pre-treated the skin incision site with RTX to render the nerve endings in the skin and subcutaneous tissue along the incision path selectively insensitive to pain.

(Chemical from cactus-like plant shows promise in controlling surgical pain, while leaving touch and coordination intact, National Institutes of Health)

It is stimulated by beta-adrenergic receptor activation but is insensitive to forskolin, calcium, and somatostatin.

(Adenylate Cyclase, NCI Thesaurus)

It is something like the way Dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that which it would otherwise harm by contact.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Transgenic mice lacking the DREAM gene were unusually pain insensitive and had elevated spinal levels of dynorphin and tonic activation of the kappa opioid receptor, supporting this hypothesis.

(Pain Repression Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Although the exact mechanism of action is unknown, Felbamate may be an antagonist at the strychnine-insensitive glycine-recognition site of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-ionophore complex, thereby blocking the effects of the excitatory amino acids, suppressing neuronal firing, and preventing seizure activity.

(Felbamate, NCI Thesaurus)

Bimatoprost mimics the effects of the endogenous prostamides and reduces intraocular pressure by increasing outflow of aqueous humor through both the pressure-sensitive outflow pathway (the trabecular meshwork), and the pressure-insensitive outflow pathway (the uveoscleral routes).

(Bimatoprost, NCI Thesaurus)