Meanings
comparative more squeamish · superlative most squeamish · alternative dialectal sweamish · alternative dialectal swaimish · alternative obsolete squeimish · alternative obsolete squemish · alternative obsolete squeamous
- Easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseated or nervous; oversensitive.
He might have made a good doctor, had he not been so squeamish at the sight of blood.
1 more example
We’ll be neither ghoulish nor squeamish about death; it happens, the chances increase with age, and we need to take the possibility into consideration.
2024 October 25, Elie Honig, “How the 2024 Election Will Reshape the Supreme Court”, in New York Magazine, archived from the original on 01 Dec 2024
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveexcessively fastidious and easily disgusted
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old English*swǣman“to grieve, trouble, afflict”
- Middle Englishswemen“to grieve, make suffer, be faint of heart”
- Anglo-Normanescoimus
- Middle Englishsquaimous
- Englishsqueamish
Origin obscure. Likely a merger of earlier squeamous (“squeamish”), from Middle English squaimous, queimous, from Anglo-Norman escoimus, escoymous, of unknown origin; and dialectal English sweamish, sweemish (“faint, squeamish”), from sweam (“dizziness, sudden qualm of sickness”) and dialectal sweem (“to swoon, be faint, be overcome, feel sick”), from Middle English swemen (“to grieve, make suffer, be faint of heart”), from Old English *swǣman (“to grieve, trouble, afflict”). If so, then related to swim (“to be dizzy, swoon”). See also sweam.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian гнуслив
- гнуслив (gnusliv)easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Czech citlivý, choulostivý
- citlivýeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- choulostivýeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Danish berøringsangst
- berøringsangsteasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Dutch teergevoelig, snel misselijk
- teergevoeligeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- snel misselijkeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- kleinzerigeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Finnish herkkähermoinen
- herkkähermoineneasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
German empfindlich, zimperlich
- empfindlicheasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- zimperlicheasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Hungarian finnyás, kényes
- finnyáseasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- kényeseasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- émelygésre hajlamoseasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- fanyalgósaverse or reluctant
- fanyalogaverse or reluctant
Irish samhnasach, consaeitiúil
- samhnasacheasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- consaeitiúileasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Latin fastīdiōsus
- fastīdiōsuseasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Norwegian pysete
- pyseteeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Persian نازکنارنجی
- نازکنارنجی (nāzoknārenjī)easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Polish wrażliwy
- wrażliwyeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Russian чувстви́тельный, оби́дчивый
- чувстви́тельный (čuvstvítelʹnyj)easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- оби́дчивый (obídčivyj)easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- брезгли́вый (brezglívyj)easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Spanish remilgado, quisquilloso
- remilgadoeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- quisquillosoeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- aprensivoeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- asquientoeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- impresionableeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- afectableeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- nauseabundoeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Swedish äckelmagad, mjäkig
- äckelmagadeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- mjäkigeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
- pjoskigeasily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseous or nauseated
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with squeamish
All rhymes →Cite this entry
squeamish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/squeamish
“squeamish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/squeamish. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “squeamish,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/squeamish.
Source: squeamish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.