desensitize

English

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Alternative forms

desensitise (British)

Etymology

From de- (“not, do the opposite of, undo”) +‎ sensitize.^[1]^[2] First attested in the 1900s.^[3]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /diːˈsɛnsɪtaɪz/, /-ətaɪz/^[3]^[4]
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Verb

desensitize (third-person singular simple present desensitizes, present participle desensitizing, simple past and past participle desensitized)

(ambitransitive) To reduce or eliminate the sensitivity of (someone) or in (something); to become insensitive.
1. To render (someone) emotionally or sensationally less responsive or irresponsive, as by long or repeated exposure to something.
  Synonyms: (only sensationally) deaden, benumb, stupefy
  
  Working in an Operating Room desensitized me to the sight of blood.
  - 1997, Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 1997, Washington, D.C.: United States Congress:
    […] child pornography is often used by pedophiles and child sexual abusers to stimulate and whet their own sexual appetites, and as a model for sexual acting out with children; such use of child pornography can desensitize the viewer to the pathology of sexual abuse or exploitation of children, so that it can become acceptable to and even preferred by the viewer; […]
2. To render (a person or animal) nonreactive or insensitive to an allergen.
3. (photography) To render (a photographic plate or film) less sensitive or insensitive to actinic rays of light.
4. (psychiatry) To free (someone) from the emotional charge of a neurosis or complex.
5. (printing) To make non-image portions of (a lithographic stone or plate) repellent to ink.

Usage notes

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that intransitive use of this verb is rare.

Derived terms

Translations

render emotionally less sensitive or insensitive (to something)

Catalan: insensibilitzar (ca)
Finnish: turruttaa (fi), totuttaa (fi), tehdä tunnottomaksi; valottaa (fi) (of film); siedättää (fi) (to an allergenic)
French: désensibiliser (fr)
German: desensibilisieren (de), abstumpfen (de)
Norwegian: desensitivisere
Portuguese: dessensibilizar, insensibilizar
Romanian: desensibiliza (ro)
Russian: огрубить (ru) pf (ogrubitʹ), огрублять (ru) impf (ogrubljatʹ), охладеть (ru) (oxladetʹ) (figurative)
Spanish: desensibilizar, insensibilizar (es)
Swedish: avtrubba (sv)

References

^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “desensitize”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed 2 August 2025.
^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “de-”, in Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed 2 August 2025.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 See OED Online.
^ “desensitize”, in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries. Accessed 2 August 2025.

“desensitize, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
Philip Babcock Gove et al., editors (1961), “desensitize”, in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged [...], volume I: A to G, Merriam-Webster Inc., →ISBN, page 610; republished Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1981, →ISBN
“desensitize”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN: “To make emotionally insensitive or unresponsive, as by long exposure or repeated shocks […]”
William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “sensitize”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC: “[…] to render capable of being acted on by actinic rays of light […]”
“sensitize”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC: “To render […] susceptible of being easily acted on by the actinic rays of the sun […]”