v. make (a material) sensitive to light, often of a particular colour, by coating it with a photographic emulsion; "sensitize the photographic film"

v. cause to sense; make sensitive; "She sensitized me with respect to gender differences in this traditional male-dominated society"; "My tongue became sensitized to good wine"

v. make sensitive to a drug or allergen; "Long-term exposure to this medicine may sensitize you to the allergen"

v. excite to some characteristic action or condition, such as motion, contraction, or nervous impulse, by the application of a stimulus; "irritate the glands of a leaf"

v. cause inflammation in; "The repetitive motion inflamed her joint"

v. make insensitive; "His military training desensitized him"

v. cause not to be sensitive; "The war desensitized many soldiers"; "The photographic plate was desensitized"

v. cause not to be sensitive; "The war desensitized many soldiers"; "The photographic plate was desensitized"

v. make numb or insensitive; "The shock numbed her senses"