Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To render insensitive or less sensitive.
- transitive verb Immunology To make (an individual) nonreactive or insensitive to an antigen.
- transitive verb To make emotionally insensitive or unresponsive, as by long exposure or repeated shocks.
- transitive verb To make (a photographic film or substance) less sensitive to light.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb to rendered insensitive or less sensitive. Opposite of
sensitize .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb to cause to become less
sensitive orinsensitive
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make insensitive
- verb cause not to be sensitive
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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However, for those at highest risk of severe influenza infection, a method is available to "desensitize" people to the egg proteins in the vaccine (see Egg Allergies).
Influenza Vaccine 2008
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Army Ranger Handbook and the Transportation Security Administration's standard operational practices for airport screening, and encouraged conducting "fake operations" such as leaving bags that appear to be suspicious packages in public places to "desensitize" federal agents.
Judge orders Fairfax terror suspect to remain in jail until his trial 2010
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CHRIS LARSON-FERGUSON: It was hard at first, but I kind of desensitize, got better at it and you know, ended up having fun on my dates and actually meeting people that were interesting.
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If it were possible to "desensitize" all such bad words, what do you then have to take their place in communication?
Congratulations to Jane Fonda! Ann Althouse 2008
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The idea: to gradually "desensitize" her to situations that produce anxiety, from sitting in an aircraft on the runway to flying through turbulence to landing on a bumpy airstrip.
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In an email, Cohen told Shots that repeat deployments don't "desensitize" troops.
NPR Topics: News 2010
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In an email, Cohen told Shots that repeat deployments don't "desensitize" troops.
NPR Topics: News 2010
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Transportation Security Administration's standard operational practices for airport screening, and encouraged conducting "fake operations" such as leaving bags that appear to be suspicious packages in public places to "desensitize" federal agents.
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This might 'desensitize' him by taking the object of his fear and converting it into something that he would look forward to.
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The weird part for me - well, the two weird parts - were that this training was also developed, in part, to "desensitize" soldiers to certain aspects of war.
Boing Boing 2009
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