Dictionary

insensitive en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɪnˈsɛnsɪtɪv/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- English sensitive English insensitive From in- + sensitive.

Meanings

1. Expressing or feeling little or no concern, care, compassion, or consideration for the feelings, emotions, sentiments, or concerns of other people; inconsiderate or incompassionate.
2. Not expressing normal physical feeling.
   • It is something like the way dame Nature gathers round a foreign body an envelope of some insensitive tissue which can protect from evil that which it would otherwise harm by contact. 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
3. Not expressing normal emotional feelings; cold; tactless; undiplomatic.
   • 1895, Grant Allen, The British Barbarians Somehow, when Bertram Ingledew let it once be felt he did not wish to be questioned on any particular point, even women managed to restrain their curiosity: and he would have been either a very bold or a very insensitive man who would have ventured to continue questioning him any further.
   • Oh I really should have known by the time you drove me home, / By the vagueness in your eyes, your casual good-byes, / By the chill in your embrace and the expression on your face, / That told me you might have some advice to give / On how to be insensitive. 1994, Jann Arden, "Insensitive" (song)
4. Unreceptive, indifferent; displaying little openness or receptivity.
   • This early rigidification and satisfaction with his own conclusions made him insensitive to new political and philosophical ideas. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 35:

Forms

Antonyms

sensitive · warm · sensate · tactful · ruthful · sensitive · sensitive · compassionate

Deriveds

mechanoinsensitive · photoinsensitive · insensitivity · insensitiveness · insensitively · case-insensitive · radioinsensitive

Synonyms

impolite · churlish · dead · rockhearted · insolent · stern · icy · unsympathetic · unmannerly · uncivil · iron-hearted · impudent · unmoved · flint-hearted · stony · unpolished · tough · callous · barbaric · uncourteous · strict · unrefined · stonehearted · insensate · cold · frosty · unpolite · forbidding · unsensitive · marble-hearted · lack-grace · rude · crude · anesthetic · ill-bred · thick-skinned · rude · humorless · unsensitive · ruthless · rantipole · cold-eyed · bold · uncultured · hardened · hard · brutal · insensible · harsh · stonyhearted · insensitive · bumptious · severe · uncouth · hardhearted · hardhanded · heartless · rough · grim · aweless · discourteous · underbred · mismannered · rigorous · gauche · improper · harsh · incivil · hard-boiled · insensate · uncivilized · ill-mannered · cruel · uncompassionate · bad-mannered · dour · unsensitive

Translations (48)

fr insensible (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · es insensible (not having normal physical feeling) · ja 平気な (not having normal physical feeling) · uk нечутли́вий (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · bg нечувствителен (not having normal physical feeling) · uk нечу́лий (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · fi tunteeton (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · bg безчувствен (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · ca insensible (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · fr insensible (not having normal physical feeling) · uk нечу́лий (not having normal physical feeling) · ja 無神経な (not having normal physical feeling) · ca insensible (not having normal physical feeling) · fi kylmä (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · hi असंवेदनशील (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · hi असंवेदनशील (not having normal physical feeling) · mk бе́счувствен (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · es falto de sensibilidad (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · mk бесчувстви́телен (not having normal physical feeling) · uk нечу́йний (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · hu érzéketlen (not having normal physical feeling) · tr hissiz (not having normal physical feeling) · pt insensível (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · pdt onemfintlich (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · es insensitivo (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · tr katı yürekli (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · ja 鈍感な (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · fi turta (not having normal physical feeling) · pdt onemfintlich (not having normal physical feeling) · tr katı (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · fi tunnoton (not having normal physical feeling) · sv okänslig (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · nb ufølsom (not having normal physical feeling) · hu tapintatlan (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · pam luse (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · tr anlayışsız (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · uk нечутли́вий (not having normal physical feeling) · ja 鈍感な (not having normal physical feeling) · tr duygusuz (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · es insensible (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · tr duygusuz (not having normal physical feeling) · ja 平気な (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · ja 無神経な (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · hu érzéketlen (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · pl bezduszny (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · sv känslolös (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · nb ufølsom (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic) · pl nieczuły (not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic)