Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Lacking emotional awareness or concern: Describes a person who shows little or no understanding of, or consideration for, the feelings of others.
   • Not physically responsive: Describes something that does not react to physical stimuli, such as touch, temperature, or pain.
   • Not affected by something: Describes a person or thing that remains unchanged or unaffected by a particular influence, condition, or substance.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Lacking emotional awareness):
  • His insensitive remarks about her work upset her deeply.
  • It was insensitive of him to joke about the situation.
• Adjective (Not physically responsive):
  • The skin on his heel had become calloused and insensitive.
  • The device uses a material that is insensitive to temperature changes.
• Adjective (Not affected by something):
  • This strain of bacteria is insensitive to the antibiotic.
  • He seems completely insensitive to criticism.

Advanced Usage

• "tone-deaf" (metaphorical extension): Used to describe actions or statements that are insensitive because they show a lack of understanding of social context or nuance.
  • The company's advertisement was criticized as being tone-deaf and insensitive to current economic hardships.
• In medical/technical contexts: Often used to describe biological or mechanical unresponsiveness.
  • The patient's leg was insensitive to pinpricks below the knee.

Variants and Related Words

• Insensitivity (noun): The quality or state of being insensitive.
  • His insensitivity to her grief was shocking.
• Insensitively (adverb): In an insensitive manner.
  • He reacted insensitively to the news.

Synonyms

• Unfeeling: Lacking kindness or sympathy.
• Callous: Showing or having an insensitive and cruel disregard for others.
• Oblivious: Not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one.
• Numb: Deprived of the power of sensation.

Antonyms

• Sensitive: Quick to detect or respond to slight changes, signals, or influences; having or showing concern for the feelings of others.
• Responsive: Reacting quickly and positively.
• Sympathetic: Feeling, showing, or expressing sympathy.

Related Phrases

• Insensitive to: The standard preposition used to indicate what someone or something does not respond to.
  • She was insensitive to his flattery.
  • The equipment is insensitive to humidity.

Adjective

1. deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive
   • insensitive to the needs of the patients
2. not responsive to physical stimuli
   • insensitive to radiation