ticklish
Americanadjective
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sensitive to tickling.
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requiring careful or delicate handling or action; difficult or risky; dicey.
a ticklish situation.
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extremely sensitive; touchy.
He is ticklish about being interrupted.
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unstable or easily upset, as a boat; unsteady.
adjective
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susceptible and sensitive to being tickled
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delicate or difficult
a ticklish situation
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easily upset or offended
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ticklish
Explanation
The word ticklish means both "sensitive to being tickled" and "requiring tact or careful handling." A lot of people avoid ticklish subjects when they meet someone new, instead sticking to safe topics like the weather. You know you're ticklish if you squirm and giggle when your friend tickles your feet. You're also ticklish if you're easily upset or irritated. For you, ticklish subjects might include politics, conspiracy theories, and which musician should have won a Grammy. That means those topics are particularly difficult, requiring a careful, tactful person to keep you from getting upset about them. This figurative sense predates the literal one, and an earlier version was tickly.
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.
The author’s fondness for masculine attire and habits—she enjoyed smoking cigars—has never ceased to generate ticklish speculation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
The decision on how to handle Anderson is ticklish for England.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2024
The job drought is a ticklish problem for the ruling Communist Party, which is overseeing a sluggish post-pandemic economic recovery worsened by a downturn in the property market.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
What keeps Sandy from jumping turns out to be one of Row’s cleverest, most ticklish plot devices.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2023
Turns out she’s as ticklish as I am.
From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy
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.
