sensitization

[ sen-si-tuh-zey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the state or process of being sensitized.
2. Psychology. the process of becoming susceptible to a given stimulus that previously had no effect or significance.
3. Immunology.
   1. a state or condition in which a previously encountered foreign substance triggers an immune reaction.
   2. an immunologic state or condition that is evidenced by the acquired ability of a cell or individual to detect the presence of a foreign substance upon reexposure to the substance and to react immunologically.

Other Words From

• nonsen·si·ti·zation noun
• resen·si·ti·zation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensitization¹

First recorded in 1885–90; sensitize + -ation

Example Sentences

Such tokenistic moves of printing a word on a form is super easy, what’s more difficult is inclusion, reform and sensitization.

From Washington Blade

Joshi claimed that the manual is a “criminal conspiracy to traumatize students in the name of gender sensitization” and the NCPCR should take appropriate action against those who are responsible for it.

From Washington Blade

With the continued sensitization, the expectation is that the courts, the government and NGO players will all contribute to a broad, national, culturing of LGBTQ rights in Botswana devoid of colonial residues.

From Washington Blade

Call the old tubercular diathesis a sensitization and you have made it the most modern of modern discoveries.

From Project Gutenberg

What if gout should prove to be a sensitization or anaphylaxis to uric acid that does not exist in the non-gouty?

From Project Gutenberg

In a great many cases the greater part of the discomfort is due to over-sensitization and over-attention.

From Project Gutenberg

Its subsequent injection at any point in the skin gives rise to a local expression of systematic sensitization.

From Project Gutenberg

Whether there is what may be termed a peculiar sensitization of milk following pasteurization, has not been definitely shown.

From Project Gutenberg