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Sense vs Sensitivity - What's the difference?

sense | sensitivity |

As an adjective sense

is sensible, rational.

As a noun sensitivity is

the quality of being sensitive.

sense

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (senseid) Any of the manners by which living beings perceive the physical world: for humans sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (William Shakespeare)
    • Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (Milton)
    • What surmounts the reach / Of human sense I shall delineate.
  • (senseid)Perception through the intellect; apprehension; awareness.
    • a sense of security
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) Sir (Philip Sidney)
    • this Basilius, having the quick sense of a lover
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (John Milton)
    • high disdain from sense of injured merit
  • (senseid)Sound practical or moral judgment.
    • It's common sense not to put metal objects in a microwave oven.
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (w, L'Estrange)
    • Some are so hardened in wickedness as to have no sense of the most friendly offices.
  • (senseid)The meaning, reason, or value of something.
    • You don’t make any sense .
    the true sense of words or phrases
  • * Bible, Neh. viii. 8
    • So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense .
  • * (and other bibliographic particulars) (Shakespeare)
    • I think 'twas in another sense .
  • (senseid)A natural appreciation or ability.
    • A keen musical sense
  • (senseid)(pragmatics) The way that a referent is presented.
  • (senseid)(semantics) A single conventional use of a word; one of the entries for a word in a dictionary.
  • (mathematics) One of two opposite directions in which a vector (especially of motion) may point. See also polarity.
  • (mathematics) One of two opposite directions of rotation, clockwise versus anti-clockwise.
  • (senseid) referring to the strand of a nucleic acid that directly specifies the product.

    • Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * sense of smell (see olfaction) * (l)

    Related terms

    * sensation * sensible * sensitive * sensual * sensuous * sensor

    See also

    * business sense * common sense * sixth sense * sight / vision * hearing / audition * taste / gustation * smell / olfaction * touch / tactition * thermoception * nociception * equilibrioception * proprioception

    Verb

    (sens)
  • To use biological senses: to either smell, watch, taste, hear or feel.
  • To instinctively be aware.
    • She immediately sensed her disdain.
  • To comprehend.

    • Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    sensitivity

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia sensitivity) (sensitivities)
  • The quality of being sensitive.
  • The ability of an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Fenella Saunders, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture , passage=The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity . They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.}}
  • (statistics) The proportion of individuals in a population that will be correctly identified in a binary classification test.
  • (electronics) The degree of response of an instrument to a change in an input signal.
  • (photography) The degree of response of a film etc. to light of a specified wavelength.