autosensitized
|au-to-sen-si-tized|
🇺🇸
/ˌɔːtoʊˈsɛnsɪtaɪz/
🇬🇧
/ˌɔːtəʊˈsɛnsɪtaɪz/
(autosensitize)
made self-sensitive
Etymology
'autosensitized' originates from a combination of Ancient Greek and Modern English: the prefix 'auto-' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'autos', where 'auto-' meant 'self'; 'sensitize' is Modern English ultimately from French 'sensibiliser' and Latin 'sensibilis' (from Latin 'sensus'), where 'sensus' meant 'feeling' or 'perception'.
'autosensitize' formed in Modern English by compounding the Greek-derived prefix 'auto-' with the English verb 'sensitize' (itself borrowed via French from Latin roots). The compound was later inflected to the past/past-participial form 'autosensitized'.
Initially the roots meant 'self' + 'to make sensitive (related to feeling/perception)'; over time the compound has come to be used in specialized contexts (especially immunology and physiology) to mean 'to induce biological or immunological sensitivity in or of oneself/a system'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Verb 1
to cause (a person, tissue, organism, or system) to become sensitized (especially in a biological or immunological sense) through intrinsic or prior exposure processes; to induce sensitivity without an external adjuvant.
Repeated low-dose exposure autosensitized the animal, causing an exaggerated immune response on subsequent challenge.
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Adjective 1
being in a state of having been made sensitive by endogenous or prior exposure processes; showing increased responsiveness (often used in clinical or experimental descriptions).
The autosensitized skin patch showed a stronger reaction than the control.
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Last updated: 2025/11/28 15:06