Standard Lemma guide

insensitive

adj · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ɪnˈsɛnsɪtɪv/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N S EH1 N S AH0 T IH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: IH2 N S EH1 N S IH0 T IH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ruthless, uncompassionate, unsensitive

Antonyms: compassionate, ruthful, sensitive

2

adj

Meaning 2

Not expressing normal physical feeling.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: anesthetic, insensate, insensible, unsensitive, dead

Antonyms: sensate, sensitive

3

adj

Meaning 3

Not expressing normal emotional feelings; cold; tactless; undiplomatic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

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

Antonyms: sensitive, tactful, warm

4

adjective

Meaning 4

not responsive to physical stimuli

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • insensitive to radiation

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: sensitive

5

adjective

Meaning 5

deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • insensitive to the needs of the patients

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: sensitive

History

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.

Across languages

Translations

46 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: нечувствителен (nečuvstvitelen) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Catalan: insensible — not having normal physical feeling
  • Finnish: tunnoton — not having normal physical feeling
  • Finnish: turta — not having normal physical feeling
  • French: insensible — not having normal physical feeling
  • Hindi: असंवेदनशील (asamvedanśīl) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Hungarian: érzéketlen — not having normal physical feeling
  • Japanese: 平気な (heiki na) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Japanese: 無神経な (mushinkei na) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Japanese: 鈍感な (donkan na) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Macedonian: бесчувстви́телен (besčuvstvítelen) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ufølsom — not having normal physical feeling
  • Plautdietsch: onemfintlich — not having normal physical feeling
  • Spanish: insensible — not having normal physical feeling
  • Turkish: duygusuz — not having normal physical feeling
  • Turkish: hissiz — not having normal physical feeling
  • Ukrainian: нечутли́вий (nečutlývyj) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Ukrainian: нечу́лий (nečúlyj) — not having normal physical feeling
  • Bulgarian: безчувствен (bezčuvstven) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Catalan: insensible — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Finnish: tunteeton — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Finnish: kylmä — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • French: insensible — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Hindi: असंवेदनशील (asamvedanśīl) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Hungarian: érzéketlen — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Hungarian: tapintatlan — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Japanese: 平気な (heiki na) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Japanese: 無神経な (mushinkei na) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Japanese: 鈍感な (donkan na) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Kapampangan: luse — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Macedonian: бе́счувствен (bésčuvstven) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ufølsom — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Plautdietsch: onemfintlich — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Polish: bezduszny — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Polish: nieczuły — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Portuguese: insensível — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Spanish: insensible — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Swedish: okänslig — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Swedish: känslolös — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Turkish: anlayışsız — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Turkish: duygusuz — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Turkish: katı — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Turkish: katı yürekli — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Ukrainian: нечутли́вий (nečutlývyj) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Ukrainian: нечу́лий (nečúlyj) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic
  • Ukrainian: нечу́йний (nečújnyj) — not having normal emotional feelings, cold, tactless, undiplomatic