nauseating

American  

[naw-zee-ey-ting, -zhee-, -see-, -shee-] / ˈnɔ ziˌeɪ tɪŋ, -ʒi-, -si-, -ʃi- /

adjective

1. causing sickness of the stomach; nauseous.

2. such as to cause contempt, disgust, loathing, etc..

   I had to listen to the whole nauseating story.

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Usage

What does nauseating mean? Nauseating means causing nausea—a feeling of sickness in your stomach, as if you might vomit. Nauseating is commonly used as an adjective, but it can also be used as the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb nauseate, meaning to cause nausea, as in That smell is nauseating me.  The adjective nauseous can be used to mean the same thing as nauseating, but nauseous is much more commonly used to mean the same thing as nauseated—feeling nausea. The word nausea can also be used in a figurative way meaning a feeling of disgust, revulsion, or repulsion, and nauseating can describe someone or something that makes a person feel this, meaning the same thing as disgusting, as in Their cruelty is nauseating. The word nauseant can also mean causing or producing nausea, but it is not commonly used other than in a medical context. Example: I’m not sure what was more nauseating—the disgusting food or the server’s disgusting comments.

Commonly Confused

See nauseous.

Other Word Forms

• nauseatingly adverb
• unnauseating adjective

Etymology

Origin of nauseating

First recorded in 1635–45; nauseat(e) + -ing ²

Explanation

Something nauseating makes you feel sick to your stomach. Your kitchen garbage can may be nauseating by the end of the week. A bad smell or taste can be nauseating, but so can a terrible feeling or a horrible situation. The prospect of speaking in front of a crowd could be nauseating to you, or reading about a natural disaster. The adjective nauseating comes from nausea, which is a sick sensation or a feeling that you're about to vomit. The root of both words is the Latin nauseare, "to feel seasick, to vomit, or to feel disgust."

Example Sentences

A rom-com need not be a sparkling shelf covered with bon-bons, but it shouldn’t be a nauseating cloud of carbon monoxide that makes you want to flee.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

It was infested with rats and cockroaches, and smelt "nauseating".

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2026

Around 2024, their mass torts business began booming, starting with the landfill lawsuits, in which the firm accused the operators of recklessly allowing nauseating odors.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2025

As night fell, I switched back to my original Twitter account, and sunk deep into that familiar, nauseating exasperation.

From Slate • Mar. 8, 2025

As Jack watched with horror, the dent slowly pushed back out with a nauseating pop.

From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley