unsensitive
Adjective: unsensitive describes a person or thing that is not easily affected by emotional, physical, or sensory stimuli; lacking sensitivity.
Emotionally unresponsive: not easily moved or affected by feelings, such as sympathy or tenderness.
- Example: He remained unsensitive to her tears. (He was not emotionally affected by her crying.)
Physically unresponsive: not reacting to physical sensations, such as touch, pain, or temperature.
- Example: The old leather is unsensitive to the cold. (The leather does not feel cold easily.)
Not perceptive or aware: lacking the ability to detect subtle changes or nuances in a situation or environment.
- Example: Her unsensitive ear could not hear the slight change in tone. (She was not perceptive to the subtle shift in sound.)
- (The manager was not emotionally responsive to others' needs.)
- (The plant does not react negatively to lack of water.)
- (He is not affected by critical remarks.)
"unsensitive to": followed by a noun or noun phrase to specify what is not affecting the subject.
- The machine is unsensitive to vibrations. (The machine does not respond to vibrations.)
"remain unsensitive": staying in a state of lacking sensitivity over time.
- Despite the tragedy, she remained unsensitive to others' grief. (She continued to be emotionally unaffected.)
- Insensitive (adj): a more common synonym meaning lacking sensitivity; often used interchangeably with but is more standard in formal English.
- His insensitive remark hurt her feelings. (His comment showed a lack of emotional awareness.)
- Sensitivity (n): the quality of being sensitive; the opposite of .
- The device has high sensitivity to light. (The device reacts easily to light.)
- Insensitive: lacking sensitivity; not responsive.
- Unfeeling: showing no emotion or sympathy.
- Impervious: not affected by something (e.g., ).
- Unresponsive: not reacting to stimuli.
- Sensitive: easily affected by emotions, physical sensations, or subtle changes.
- Responsive: reacting quickly or positively.
Thick-skinned: not easily hurt or offended (often used for emotional resilience).
- He is thick-skinned and unsensitive to insults. (He is not easily offended.)
Hard as nails: emotionally tough and unsympathetic.
- She is hard as nails, unsensitive to anyone's problems. (She is emotionally hard and unfeeling.)
(No common phrasal verbs directly derive from unsensitive; however, unsensitive can be used with become or grow to indicate change.) - Become unsensitive to: to develop a lack of sensitivity over time. - After years of work, he became unsensitive to the noise. (He no longer noticed the noise.)