1. Making susceptible or sensitive to either physical or emotional stimuli
   "The sensitizing agent caused an allergic reaction in some patients";
   - sensitising [Brit]

1. Rendering an organism sensitive to a serum by a series of injections
   "The sensitizing process was part of the allergy testing procedure";
   - sensitising [Brit], sensitization, sensitisation [Brit]

1. Make sensitive or aware
   "He was not sensitized to her emotional needs";
   - sensitise [Brit], sensify [rare], sensibilize [rare], sensibilise [Brit]
    
2. 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";
   - sensitise [Brit]
    
3. Make sensitive to a drug or allergen
   "Long-term exposure to this medicine may sensitize you to the allergen";
   - sensitise [Brit]
    
4. (photography) make (a material) sensitive to light, often of a particular colour, by coating it with a photographic emulsion
   "sensitize the photographic film";
   - sensitise [Brit]

See also: predisposition, sensitivity

Type of: alter, change, immunisation [Brit], immunization, modify

Antonym: desensitize

Encyclopedia: Sensitizing