desensitize
desensitize Lexical Profile
desensitize Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To make someone less likely to feel shock, distress, or compassion toward scenes of cruelty, suffering, or strong emotion, typically through repeated exposure.
"Critics argue that constant exposure to graphic news coverage can desensitize viewers to human suffering."
To reduce or eliminate a physical, allergic, or psychological reactivity to a specific substance or stimulus, often by administering gradually increasing doses or exposures.
"The allergist used immunotherapy to desensitize the patient to bee venom over several months."
To make a photographic emulsion or plate less sensitive to light.
"Before developing the film in bright light, the technician had to desensitize the emulsion using a special chemical bath."
• Rhymes for desensitize
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 19th century, originally in photography, from the prefix 'de-' (indicating reversal) and 'sensitize', ultimately deriving from the Latin verb 'sentire', meaning 'to feel or perceive'.