hypersensitive

[ hahy-per-sen-si-tiv ]
See synonyms for hypersensitive on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. excessively sensitive: to be hypersensitive to criticism.

  2. allergic to a substance to which persons do not normally react.

Origin of hypersensitive

1
First recorded in 1870–75; hyper- + sensitive

Other words from hypersensitive

  • hy·per·sen·si·tive·ness, hy·per·sen·si·tiv·i·ty, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hypersensitive in a sentence

  • She was imaginative, I knew, but never moody; common sense was strong in her, though she had her times of hypersensitiveness.

    Incredible Adventures | Algernon Blackwood
  • Hypersensitiveness is never anything but a makeshift kind of satisfaction.

    Outwitting Our Nerves | Josephine A. Jackson and Helen M. Salisbury
  • Besides this fear of cold, he was suffering from a hypersensitiveness of several other varieties.

    Outwitting Our Nerves | Josephine A. Jackson and Helen M. Salisbury

British Dictionary definitions for hypersensitive

hypersensitive

/ (ˌhaɪpəˈsɛnsɪtɪv) /


adjective
  1. having unduly vulnerable feelings

  2. abnormally sensitive to an allergen, a drug, or other agent

Derived forms of hypersensitive

  • hypersensitiveness or hypersensitivity, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012