Avoid the misspelling sensativity. Do not confuse this word with specificity. (1) The ability to appreciate by one or more of the senses. (2) State of being sensitive. SYN: esthesia (2). (3) In clinical pathology and medical screening, the proportion of affected patients who give a positive test result for the disease that the test is intended to reveal, i.e., true-positive results divided by total true-positive and false-negative results, usually expressed as a percentage. Cf.: specificity (2) [L. sentio, pp. sensus, to feel]