Etymologically
Log in

insensitive

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 13:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • US: /ɪnˈsɛnsɪtɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English in- (“not”) + sensitive.[2][3][4][5] Sensitive is from Old French sensitif (“capable of feeling”) and Medieval Latin sēnsitīvus (“capable of sensation”),[6][3] from Latin sēnsus (“sense”), the past participle of sentiō (“to feel, perceive”).[2][6] Etymonline compares the sense of insensate.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Without feeling or consciousness; not sentient, inanimate: 1610, in John Healey's translation of Augustine's City of God.[3] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600, with the sense of having little or no reaction to what the senses perceive,[2] and the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, not sentient, died out after 1713.[3] The modern sense, lacking mental or moral sensitiveness, is recorded from 1834, in Thomas Campbell's Life of Mrs Siddons,[3][2][4] and the physical sense, of a part of the body without feeling, from 1866.[3] From 1872 the word was used of substances not affected by a physical influence, especially light,[3] and since 1968 of a quantity little affected by changes in another.[3] The meaning "without consideration for the feelings of others" is recorded by 1974.[2]

Timeline

  • 1610 – not sentient, inanimate (obsolete by 1713).[3]
  • 1834 – lacking mental or moral sensitiveness.[3][2][4]
  • 1866 – of a part of the body, without feeling.[3]
  • 1872 – of a substance, not affected by light or another influence.[3]
  • 1968 – of a quantity, unaffected by changes in a related quantity.[3]
  • 1974 – without consideration for the feelings of others.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Showing no concern for other people's feelings; tactless or unfeeling: an insensitive joke about his illness.[8][9][4]
  2. Lacking physical feeling; numb.[9][8][3]
  3. Not affected by or responsive to something: a gauge that is insensitive to small changes in pressure.[8][9][3]
  4. (obsolete, 1610–1713) Not sentient; inanimate.[3][4][7]

Word family

  • insensitively
  • insensitiveness
  • insensitivity

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin