Dictionary Definition
hypersensitivity
Noun
1 pathological sensitivity
2 extreme sensitivity
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
- any heightened immune response to an antigen; an allergy
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
heightened immune response to an antigen
- Czech: přecitlivělost
Extensive Definition
Hypersensitivity refers to undesirable (damaging,
discomfort-producing and sometimes fatal) reactions produced by the
normal immune system. Hypersensitivity reactions require a
pre-sensitized (immune) state of the host. The four-group
classification was expounded by
P. H. G. Gell and Robin Coombs
in 1963.
Comparison table: Types 1-4
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
allergy, anaphylaxis, considerateness,
delicacy, empathy, exquisiteness, fineness, hairsplitting, hypercriticism, hyperesthesia, hyperpathia, hypersensitiveness,
identification,
irritability,
morbid sensibility, nervousness, overconscientiousness,
overcriticalness,
overfastidiousness,
overmeticulousness,
overniceness,
overnicety, overparticularity,
overrefinement,
overscrupulousness,
oversensibility,
oversensitiveness,
oversensitivity,
oversqueamishness,
overtenderness,
passibility,
perceptiveness,
perceptivity,
photophobia,
prickliness,
responsiveness,
sensitiveness,
sensitivity,
sensitization,
soreness, supersensitivity,
sympathy, tact, tactfulness, temperamentalness,
tenderness, tetchiness, thin skin,
ticklishness,
touchiness