sensitize

Verb

• make (a material) sensitive to light, often of a particular colour, by coating it with a photographic emulsion
  • sensitize the photographic film
    

• make sensitive to a drug or allergen
  • Long-term exposure to this medicine may sensitize you to the allergen
    

• cause to sense; make sensitive
  • She sensitized me with respect to gender differences in this traditional male-dominated society
    
  • My tongue became sensitized to good wine
    

• make sensitive or aware
  • He was not sensitized to her emotional needs
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  sensitise , sensify , sensibilize , sensibilise
• Antonyms: 
  desensitize , desensitise