Insensitizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To make someone or something less responsive to sensations or emotions
2. To diminish the ability to feel pain or stimuli in an individual or substance
3. To reduce sensitivity or awareness in a psychological or physiological context

Etymology: The core of this word is the Latin verb "sentire," meaning "to feel." Its past participle, "sensus," gave Medieval Latin "sensitivus," meaning "capable of perceiving," and English "sensitive" came from that, first in the sense of having the power of sensation. The sense of being easily hurt or affected emerged later, so the modern "sensitive" is a shift from the physical toward the emotional. The word is built from "sensitize," which combines "sensitive" with the suffix "-ize," meaning "to make or cause to be." The prefix "in-" here means "not," the same prefix found in "inactive." So to insensitize something is to make it not sensitive, that is, less responsive to stimuli. It is used especially in medicine and chemistry, where a drug or treatment can reduce a body's or a substance's reaction to something.

Synonyms: desensitizing, numbing, anesthetizing

Antonyms: sensitizing, stimulating