oversensitiveadj.
/ˌəʊvəˈsɛnsᵻtɪv/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈsɛnsədɪv/ Excessively or unduly sensitive.
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the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > sensitiveness or tenderness > [adjective] > excessively sensitive
over-tender?a1425
oversensible1601
weak1768
oversensitive1817
supersensitive1817
hypersensitive1871
1817 N. Amer. Rev. July 281 You let your imagination beguile you, this is but some delusion of an over-sensitive mind.
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days (ed. 3) Pref. p. vi Excitement, to nerves that are over-sensitive.
1919 P. G. Wodehouse Damsel in Distress ix. 110 The same feeling which a composer with an oversensitive ear would suffer on hearing his pet opus assassinated by a schoolgirl.
1953 K. Reisz Technique Film Editing iii. xv. 266 He becomes over-sensitive to his surroundings and suspicious of casual passers-by.
1995 Vogue Dec. 232/2 Saturn and the Sun at odds with one another make you oversensitive in mid-December.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1817