nauseous

adjective

nau·​seous ˈnȯ-shəs  ˈnȯ-zē-əs 

1

: causing nausea or disgust : nauseating

the nauseous smell of rotting garbage

2

: affected with nausea or disgust

When the medication makes her tired and nauseous, she works at home instead of going to the office.

—Jane E. Brody

nauseously adverb

nauseousness noun

Nauseous vs. Nauseated: Usage Guide

Those who insist that nauseous can properly be used only to mean "causing nausea" and that its later "affected with nausea" meaning is an error for nauseated are mistaken. Current evidence shows these facts: nauseous is most frequently used to mean physically affected with nausea, usually after a linking verb such as feel or become; figurative use is quite a bit less frequent. Use of nauseous to mean "causing nausea or disgust" is much more often figurative than literal, and this use appears to be losing ground to nauseating. Nauseated is used more widely than nauseous when referring to being affected with nausea.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is one nauseous or nauseated?

Some usage guides have held that there should be a strict distinction between nauseous and nauseated, with the first word meaning "causing nausea or disgust" and the second one meaning "affected with nausea." However, nauseous has been in widespread enough use for both of these senses that this distinction is now quite blurred. Nauseous may mean either "causing nausea" or "affected with nausea"; nauseated, on the other hand, is restricted in meaning to "affected with nausea; feeling disgust."

What is the verb for nauseous?

The verb form of nauseous is nauseate, meaning "to affect with nausea or disgust." It comes from the Latin word meaning "seasickness, nausea," which itself may be traced back to the Greek word for "sailor" (nautēs).

Is nausea a noun?

Nausea is a noun, meaning "a stomach distress with distaste for food and an urge to vomit" or "extreme disgust." A number of other nouns are closely related in meaning, including nauseant ("something that causes nausea"), nauseousness ("an instance of nausea"), and nauseatingness ("the quality or state of being nauseating").

Synonyms

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

Examples of nauseous in a Sentence

She looked slightly nauseous, as though she had just watched someone being sick. However, when she drew out her wand and pointed it at Barty Crouch, her hand was quite steady. —J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000

She unleashed, too, an olfactory effect of such nauseous potency as to make him gag and retch. —Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, 1989

Personally, I think that writing must be a bit like pregnancy: It begins with a microscopic idea that with time grows and takes shape and comes alive. And often, when I get up in the morning and look at what I wrote the night before, sure enough—I become nauseous. —Mike Nichols, Life and other ways to kill time, 1988

Ermyn didn't take sugar, but she sipped the nauseous solution bravely, incapable of rebuffing a kindness. —Alice Thomas Ellis, The Sin Eater, 1977

The smell of gasoline makes me nauseous.

I began to feel nauseous.

Recent Examples on the Web

Dehydrated, nauseous, sunburned Floridians flood emergency rooms when temperatures rise Last summer was one of the hottest on record and this year, temperatures in South Florida began to rise in April. —Lauren Ferrer, Sun Sentinel, 13 June 2024

Jen Psaki accepted a piece of jerky, and, upon putting it in her mouth, looked nauseous, but was still too nice to protest. —Brian Steinberg, Variety, 4 Nov. 2024

And feeling nauseous from a few minutes of passenger princess phone tasks straight-up sucks. —Lauren Mazzo, SELF, 27 Sep. 2024

Ganondorf possesses Zelda’s body in 2006’s Twilight Princess, turning her fair skin a nauseous, seafoam green. —Ashley Bardhan, Rolling Stone, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

see nausea

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

nauseous

adjective

nau·​seous ˈnȯ-shəs  ˈnȯ-zē-əs 

: affected with or causing nausea or disgust

feel nauseous

a nauseous odor

nauseously adverb

Medical Definition

nauseous

adjective

nau·​seous ˈnȯ-shəs  ˈnȯ-zē-əs 

1

: causing nausea

2

: affected with nausea