Definition of oversensitive
: excessively sensitive: such as
a : too easily bothered, upset, offended, etc.
an oversensitive person oversensitive about his looks She's oversensitive to criticism. It is not enough to say "I was only joking", and you ought not to suggest that the recipient is being oversensitive or thin-skinned.— Maureen Matthews
b : excessively or abnormally susceptible or responsive to a particular agent or stimulus (such as a drug, antigen, or sound)
Many infants, they have found, are oversensitive … to such sensations as sound, touch, light.— D. Gelman In around 90 per cent of cases, rhinitis is caused by allergy. The immune system is oversensitive to substances such as pollen, firing off antibodies which should normally be reserved for infections.— Martin Scurr
c of an instrument or device : too responsive to or likely to register minute quantities, effects, etc.
an oversensitive smoke detector an oversensitive microphone
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Time Traveler for oversensitive
The first known use of oversensitive was in 1817
See more words from the same year