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hypersensitivity

noun

  1. An inflammatory response to an exogenous environmental antigen or an endogenous antigen initiated by the adaptive immune system.
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Wiktionary

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Hellenic *hupér Ancient Greek ῠ̔πέρ (hŭpér) Ancient Greek ῠ̔περ- (hŭper-)der. English hyper- English sensitivity English hypersensitivity From hyper- + sensitivity.

  1. Any heightened immune response to an antigen; an allergy; hypersensation.
  2. The state of being easily offended or hurt.

    "I might say," remarked Professor Richet, "that the hyper-sensibility is moral as well as physical. Panbek is impressionable and full of emotion, with the temperament of the poet and all those little weaknesses, if we may call them so, which the poet pays as a ransom for his gifts."

    If our universities are teaching students that their emotions can be used effectively as weapons—or at least as evidence in administrative proceedings—then they are teaching students to nurture a kind of hypersensitivity that will lead them into countless drawn-out conflicts in college and beyond.