sensitively
adverb
Simple meaning
In a way that shows awareness of feelings or delicate situations.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehnsihtihvleeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɛnsɪtɪvli
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adverb
In a sensitive manner; with sensitivity.
“She questioned the rape victim very sensitively about the attack.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: In a sensitive manner; with sensitivity.
Used this way, sensitively is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“She questioned the rape victim very sensitively about the attack.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “sensitively about …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: sensitively about …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sensitively
- “She questioned the rape victim very sensitively about the attack.”adverb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Responsive to physical stimuli.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: in a sensitive manner
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.