Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of itchy
1520–30; itch, + -y 1; compare Old English giccig (rare) purulent, putrid
Explanation
If you're itchy, you've got a rash or a spot on your skin that you really want to scratch. Mosquito bites are notoriously itchy, and the least fun thing about summer time. Poison ivy, hives, bug bites, sunburn, lice — all of these things make you itchy, and it might even make you feel itchy just to think about them. A figurative way to be itchy is to be antsy or restless, and if someone has "itchy feet," it means they like to roam or travel, staying on the move. If, on the other hand, they have "itchy palms," they can't be trusted not to steal things.
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.
See Examples For:
"Anyone who notices hair shedding, an itchy or red scalp or nail changes should mention it to their doctor rather than discontinue therapy."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
A fetid stench remained in the neighborhood, and several residents reported feeling nausea and itchy throats and eyes weeks after the fire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Those stocks appear to be burning a hole in your pocket, but it’s not always wise to scratch itchy feet, as this Moneyist reader discovered.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
The next morning, she woke up to a "horrible realisation", feeling itchy with red lumps over her body and blood spots smeared on the bedding — the tell-tale signs of bed bugs, she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
I guess that’s why barely one week later Daddy made me wear my itchy, hot Sunday clothes to the train depot.
From "Finding Langston" by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Scratch that bite now, and it only gets itchier later.
From Slate ● Mar. 8, 2022
The researchers surmised that increased levels of CO2 in coming decades would lead to bigger, faster growing, and itchier poison ivy plants.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2021
A year into the shutdown, one’s finger on the keyboard pause button gets itchier by the day.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 26, 2021
His fast-forward finger, though, seems a bit itchier than everyone else’s.
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2013
The more Jinny thought about it, the itchier she felt.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
Musk had the biggest wallet, and the itchiest tweeting finger, and the widest eyes.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2022
As a result, investors are equipped with the itchiest trigger fingers ever in one of the touchiest periods in history.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2012
This bum, memorably played by Donald Pleasence, is the smelliest, itchiest, un-deloused scamp ever plucked from the rim of a rubbish barrel.
From Time Magazine Archive
Even after all these years, Eddie Rickenbacker, 77, the World War I flying ace, still has the itchiest trigger finger in the West.
From Time Magazine Archive
“I’m itchy all over. I’m the itchiest in the world.”
From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill
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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.
