| 释义 |
insensitive, a.|ɪnˈsɛnsɪtɪv|
[in-3.]
Not sensitive.
†1. Destitute of feeling or consciousness (in general); not sentient; inanimate. Obs.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 471 Though man be not insensitive, yet this sence of his..is justly termed rather death then life. a1694Tillotson Serm. (1743) IX. clxxvi. 4110 This faculty is that which constitutes the difference between sensitive and insensitive creatures. 1713Derham Phys.-Theol. iv. i. 85 Sensitive or insensitive Creatures.
2. a. Of an organ or part of the body: Destitute of feeling or sensation; not susceptible of sensuous impressions (esp. those of touch or sight). Const. to.
1866Sat. Rev. 21 Apr. 467 A certain degree of sluggishness is inseparable from a skin insensitive to dirt. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight iii. 38 One spot on the retina, not very far from the most sensitive portion, is entirely insensitive to light. 1884Expositor Jan. 41 Their optic nerve has shrunk to an insensitive thread. 1898P. Manson Trop. Dis. xxvii. 432 A painless, insensitive..granulomatous excrescence.
b. transf. Of a substance: Not susceptible to a physical influence, esp. that of light or the actinic rays. Const. to.
1871tr. Schellen's Spectr. Anal. §35. 129 Most substances absorbed with great avidity rays of certain colors, while they were insensitive to others. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 1 The film, which is then totally insensitive to light. 1889Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 394 Pure iodide of silver gelatine is for optical sensitizers even quite insensitive.
c. Of a mathematical or physical quantity: (relatively) unaffected in value by variations in some related quantity. Const. to.
1968Fox & Mayers Computing Methods for Scientists & Engineers iii. 31 As r decreases, the results become increasingly insensitive to small changes in the given condition. 1970Nature 25 July 334/2 The energy of interaction turns out to be rather insensitive to ε(ω) at these frequencies if the layer materials are of similar density.
3. Destitute of, or wanting in, mental or moral sensitiveness; having no quickness of feeling; not susceptible of impression. Const. to.
1834Campbell Life Mrs. Siddons II. ii. 49 Insensitive as we have seen her to the slightest joy at the return of her husband. 1881Mrs. C. Praed Policy & P. I. 40 Longleat's insensitive nature.
Add: Hence inˈsensitively adv.
1961in Webster. 1966Listener 17 Feb. 257/3, I find the new record of Rossini's Stabat Mater..an almost complete write-off, because this New York performance..is..vulgarly and insensitively sung. 1990A. N. Wilson C. S. Lewis xix. 280 She was not at all the insensitively breezy kind, but it was not possible..to be miserable in her company for long. |