squeamish

adjective

squea·​mish ˈskwē-mish 

1

a

: easily nauseated : queasy

b

: affected with nausea

2

a

: excessively fastidious or scrupulous in conduct or belief

b

: easily offended or disgusted

squeamishly adverb

squeamishness noun

Synonyms

• ill
• nauseated
• nauseous
• qualmish
• queasy
• queazy
• queer
• queerish
• sick
• sickish

Examples of squeamish in a Sentence

I used to be squeamish about eating raw fish.

I'm too squeamish to watch horror movies.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Years Last summer, more squeamish audience members were fainting left, right and center at this adaptation of the French writer Annie Ernaux’s quasi-memoir. —Matt Wolf, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025

Arriving at a time when anime has become more surreal, Dan Da Dan feels like a natural evolution of shows like Chainsaw Man, while being not quite as alienating for those with a more squeamish palate. —Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 19 Dec. 2024

The segment never lives up to that hype, but the sight of Homer self-cannibalizing himself is sure to make some Simpsons viewers squeamish. —Joshua Kurp, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2024

Horror films still offer a path to profitability on low budgets that no other genre can claim, which is why even the most squeamish filmmakers should celebrate the remarkable box-office success demonstrated by Damien Leone’s gory saga of the depraved Art the Clown. —Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 25 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English squaymisch, modification of Anglo-French escoymous

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing squeamish

• not for the squeamish
• the squeamish

Kids Definition

squeamish

adjective

squea·​mish ˈskwē-mish 

1

a

: easily made sick : queasy

b

: affected with nausea : nauseated

2

: easily shocked or disgusted

squeamishly adverb

squeamishness noun