sensitivity.

1. The degree to which an instrument, system or result responds to a change in its input or conditions.

2. The proportion of genuinely positive cases that a test correctly identifies as positive.

3. Awareness of and considerate response to other people’s feelings or to subtle issues.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• instrument sensitivity
• sensitivity analysis

On the page

Sensitivity analysis showed that the conclusion depended heavily on the assumed baseline.

The instrument’s sensitivity allowed small changes to be detected but also amplified noise.

Usage notes

Primary category: science / research / methodology. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: methodology, measurement, causation, evaluation. Disciplines: research, statistics, scientific reasoning. Commonness: moderately common.