nauseating

[naw-zee-ey-ting, -zhee-, -see-, -shee-]

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.

Confusables Note

See nauseous.

Other Word Forms

• nauseatingly adverb
• unnauseating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of nauseating¹

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

Example Sentences

Mr. Foster is nauseatingly vivid in the part, making Jim Martin too chilling to be a mere cliché.

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To conserve fresh water the men were allowed just two showers a week, and their own growing stench added a nauseating layer to the reek of diesel fuel.

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The circus is all a bit nauseating, and that’s the point: If we’re fatigued by just watching this spectacle, imagine living it.

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As any seasoned horror movie fan can attest, few frights are as reliably nauseating as eyeball trauma.

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In the paper, they note something that sounds straight from a witch’s journal: “the strongest and most nauseating odor was observed towards midnight, attracting many flies, ants, moths and roaches.”

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When To Use

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.