When referring to the word "sensitive" what does having a greater sensitivity mean? [closed]

This might sound a bit confusing, so let me specify.

John is more sensitive to food than Louise

Does this sentence mean John is able to taste more food, and therefor has a larger range of food, or only likes a specific kind of food, and therefor has a smaller range of food than Louise?

As another example:

Instrument A is more sensitive to colour than instrument B

Again, similar question. Does instrument A accept more or less colours than instrument B?

Also, I'm not entirely sure what to tag this question, so feel free to tag it or suggest tags.

Solution 1:

welcome to EL&U. The sentence means one of three things to me:

1) John has a more discerning palate than Louise and can distinguish more flavours

2) John knows more about food and as is, therefore, more discerning than Louise

3) John has more food sensitivities than Louise (that is more foods make him ill if he consumes them).

Sensitivities can be similar in effect to allergies but are caused by a different mechanism (see this link or search for "sensitivities vs allergies" for more information.)

As it has become more common both to recognise and to discuss food sensitivities in the last few decades I suspect that the third explanation is more likely but that could only be determined with more context.

As @Jim says in his comment "more sensitive" means having a more extreme reaction to the same stimulus (which is why one piece of equipment can be said to be more sensitive than another) but in a culinary context this can have the different meanings given above.