desensitize

desensitize — verb

1. to make someone less emotionally responsive to something unpleasant, so that see

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to make someone less emotionally responsive to something unpleasant, so that seeing or experiencing it repeatedly triggers a weaker reaction — for example, a doctor who no longer feels shock at the sight of blood after many years of practice

Example

Years of working in emergency rooms had desensitized Noor to the sight of serious injuries.

desensitized + object + to + noun — emotional numbing

Constant exposure to violent images in the media can gradually desensitize viewers.

Common collocations
  • desensitize to violence
  • desensitize to suffering
  • desensitize to pain
  • desensitize to the sight of
  • emotionally desensitized
  • become desensitized to
  • get desensitized to
  • gradually desensitized
Synonyms
  • numb

    more temporary and physical; can describe literal loss of feeling in a body part, not just emotion

  • harden

    implies becoming tough or unfeeling, often by choice rather than through repeated exposure

  • inure

    formal register; suggests gradual habituation to hardship through experience

Antonyms
  • sensitize

    to make someone more aware or responsive to something

Grammar Patterns

desensitize + object + to + noun phrase

Usage Note

Frequently used in the passive form: 'be/get desensitized to something'. The grammatical object of 'to' is the stimulus that no longer produces a strong reaction (e.g. violence, suffering, pain).

Common Mistakes

Years of news coverage desensitized people from the war.
Years of news coverage desensitized people to the war.
The correct preposition after desensitize is 'to', not 'from'.

2. to medically treat a person or an animal so that their body stops having a stron

2.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to medically treat a person or an animal so that their body stops having a strong allergic or negative reaction to a substance — for example, giving a patient tiny amounts of peanut protein over time so that peanuts no longer trigger a dangerous response

Example

The allergy clinic desensitized Nkechi to peanut protein over a period of six months.

collocation: desensitize + to + [allergen/substance]

Élise received weekly injections for several months to desensitize her to cat dander.

Common collocations
  • desensitize to allergens
  • desensitize to venom
  • desensitize to pollen
  • desensitize to dander
  • medically desensitized
  • gradually desensitized
  • desensitization treatment
  • desensitization shots
Synonyms
  • hyposensitize

    more technical; specifically refers to reducing sensitivity in medical immunotherapy

Antonyms
  • sensitize

    to make the immune system reactive to a substance

Grammar Patterns

desensitize + object + to + substance

desensitize + object + against + substance

Usage Note

Common in medical contexts, especially allergy treatment and immunology. Unlike sense 1 (EMOTIONAL), this sense describes a physical or biological process rather than a psychological one. The patient is typically treated with gradually increasing doses of the substance they react to.

Common Mistakes

The doctor desensitized her allergy.
The doctor desensitized her to the substance causing her allergy.
The object of desensitize is the person or the immune system, not the allergic reaction itself.

Word family

  • desensitization
    nounC1
  • desensitized
    adjectiveB2
  • desensitizing
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All three words describe a reduction in emotional responsiveness, but they differ in mechanism and tone. 'Numb' carries a physical metaphor — as if the emotional nerve has been temporarily frozen — and is often used for a sudden or short-term loss of feeling. 'Harden' suggests a deliberate or defensive emotional toughening, as when someone steels themselves against disappointment. 'Inure' is the most formal of the three and implies long-term habituation through repeated exposure, often to hardship or discomfort. For example: 'The repeated rejections numbed him to disappointment' suggests a temporary deadening, whereas 'The soldiers had been inured to the cold by months of winter training' implies a lasting adaptation.

numbharden ↗inure

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • become desensitized to
  • get desensitized to
  • desensitize someone to

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Formed in English around the early 1900s by adding the prefix 'de-' (meaning 'remove' or 'reverse') to 'sensitize', which itself comes from Latin 'sentire' (to feel). The word first appeared in medical writing about reducing physical sensitivity, and later extended to emotional contexts.