Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act, process, or result of sensitizing, or rendering sensitive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The process of making something sensitive.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being sensitive (as to an antigen)
  • noun rendering an organism sensitive to a serum by a series of injections
  • noun (psychology) the process of becoming highly sensitive to specific events or situations (especially emotional events or situations)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From sensitize +‎ -ation.

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Examples

  • Just like Chrysanthemum pyrethrins, it can cause skin sensitization (rash) in certain people.

    I live in the south and my job is haying. 2009

  • This sensitization is unpredictable based on frequency or duration of freon abuse.

    Freon Abuse 2010

  • Just like Chrysanthemum pyrethrins, it can cause skin sensitization (rash) in certain people.

    I live in the south and my job is haying. 2009

  • The association between soy consumption and peanut sensitization is not causal but merely a result of preferential use of soy milk in infants with a personal or family history of cow's milk allergy.

    Soy Milk Doesn't Start Peanut Allergies Steve Carper 2008

  • Using a quantal analysis, we found that the synaptic facilitation characteristic of sensitization is presynaptic and that inhibitors of serotonin block this presynaptic facilitation.

    Eric R. Kandel - Autobiography 2001

  • In 1972, Schwartz, Howard Cedar, and I found that stimulation of the pathway involved in sensitization increased the level of cAMP in the entire abdominal ganglion.

    Eric R. Kandel - Autobiography 2001

  • We had earlier found in Aplysia that long-term sensitization involved a persistent increase in the strength of the same synaptic connection altered by the shortterm process - the connections between the sensory and motor neurons of the gill-withdrawal reflex.

    Eric R. Kandel - Autobiography 2001

  • We found that long-term sensitization in Aplysia is similarly dependent on protein synthesis, whereas short-term sensitization is not.

    Eric R. Kandel - Autobiography 2001

  • The food panel tests often yield false-positive results called "sensitization."

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • Indeed, there's a well-established phenomenon called sensitization, or sometimes the whetting effect: if you picture yourself eating chocolate, your __________ for it increases, and such thoughts can cause you to __________ salivate.

    NYT > Home Page By HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO 2010

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