squeamish
Americanadjective
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easily sickened or nauseated, as by the sight of blood
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easily shocked; fastidious or prudish
-
easily frightened
squeamish about spiders
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of squeamish
First recorded in 1450–1500; late Middle English squaymysch, squaimish(e), alteration of squemes, squaymes, squaimous, squaymous “easily nauseated, nauseating, fastidious,” from Anglo-French escoimus, escoymous; further origin uncertain
Explanation
If you fainted or threw up at the sight of frog intestines in biology class, you’re squeamish — easily nauseated or shocked by unpleasant, icky things. No horror movies for you! We get squeamish from the Anglo-French word escoimous, meaning disdainful or shy. It can mean shy of blood or gore, or less often, it is used to describe a prissy kind of fear of confrontation with others. How can you become a heart surgeon if you’re squeamish enough to faint every time you get a paper cut? If you’re squeamish about confronting the noisy neighbors, why not slip a note under their door asking them to pipe down?
Vocabulary lists containing squeamish
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Brave New World
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"Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell
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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.
When it comes to scary movies, the motion picture academy has historically been a bit squeamish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
Over the summer, the restaurant industry also contended with a cyclospora outbreak that made more consumers squeamish about ordering things like salads.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
Germans for good reasons are squeamish about articulating a strong idea of “Germanness.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
"I was uncomfortable… I was a bit squeamish about that," he said.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
She was not squeamish, though, and deftly caught spewings that were sometimes babies, sometimes monsters.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
