thin-skinned
Americanadjective
-
having a thin skin.
-
sensitive to criticism, reproach, or rebuff; easily offended; touchy.
a thin-skinned poet.
- Synonyms:
- susceptible, soft, squeamish
adjective
Etymology
Origin of thin-skinned
First recorded in 1590–1600
Explanation
To be thin-skinned is to be sensitive, especially to criticism and slights. Thin-skinned people are quick to take offense. If your skin is literally thin, soft, and tender — like a baby's — than you're going to be hurt more easily if you get scraped or cut. Similarly, a thin-skinned person gets emotionally hurt more often than most people. If you're thin-skinned, you take criticism, rejection, disappointment, and failure very hard. Being left out of anything could be perceived as a major insult. If you forget a thin-skinned person's birthday, they’ll probably hold a grudge.
Vocabulary lists containing thin-skinned
Idioms and Expressions, List 3
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The Golden Goblet
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Amal Unbound
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At times, Musk spent his days on the witness stand coming off as thin-skinned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
Trump loves a win and he's very thin-skinned.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2025
This is the same thin-skinned coach who this year closed practice to the media, the same one who last year suspended a Southern California New Group reporter for alleged violations of the program’s media policy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2024
Nandor is only doing what any thin-skinned former conqueror would do in a world that dismisses him, throwing wild swings in the dark.
From Salon ● Nov. 11, 2024
Her face had lost its fat and was eerily adult, sunken and thin-skinned.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
