queasy
Americanadjective
adjective
-
having the feeling that one is about to vomit; nauseous
-
feeling or causing uneasiness
a queasy conscience
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of queasy
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English qweysy, coisi, of uncertain origin
Explanation
Queasy describes a feeling of nervousness, uneasiness, or anxiety. If you're queasy about making a speech in front of the entire high school, you have a feeling that it won't go well. Queasy can also mean feeling sick to your stomach. If you eat a sandwich made of turkey that expired two months ago, you'll likely feel queasy and throw up. If you feel queasy during a flight, both meanings of the word can apply: you may be queasy — as in anxious — because you're afraid of flying. And you may also be queasy — as in sick to your stomach — as a result of the air turbulence.
Vocabulary lists containing queasy
Flowers for Algernon
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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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.
See Examples For:
No wonder big market swings might make some investors feel queasy.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
Rice’s readers might not have been quite so queasy about this; her antihero has a way of making many horrors palatable.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
On that occasion, Tesla investors turned queasy, pushing Tesla shares down by more than 10% the day the deal was announced.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
Don’t take his deal if it leaves you feeling queasy or questionable, especially if you don’t like your children being potentially dependent on the largesse of your husband.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
I kept my eyes on the light and ignored my heaving lungs, my queasy stomach.
From "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart
It’s a creepy setup that Muschietti milks for laughs that become queasier and ickier the longer and the more gleefully flamboyant the scene plays out.
From New York Times ● Jun. 14, 2023
He underlaid moments of suspense with rumbling jazz percussion and made the execution scene queasier with a slinking piccolo motif over a drooping swing rhythm.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2020
But in spite of Elle's queasier exploitation aspects — an expected Verhoeven staple — and its why-would-anyone-do-that questions, it's a mesmerizing movie.
From The Verge ● Sep. 12, 2016
And every movie-within-the-movie had this in common, too: It was conceived and undertaken in a mood of bluff, comradely good humor—even if, during the re-creation process itself, queasier emotions often began to arise.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2015
Without the solid earth beneath my feet, my stomach grew even queasier.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
That’s why Schwarzenegger was grateful for the season’s queasiest plot turn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025
As the #MeToo movement approaches its anniversary, this feels like one of the queasiest revelations it has produced.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2018
Rather worryingly, musically speaking, the queasiest stuff – the discords and the lurching, seasick strings – are reserved for the obsessive music fan, rather than, say, the murderer.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 13, 2010
Persuading even the queasiest of readers to spend hours learning about an extravagant variety of invertebrates, the effect of Richard Conniffs Svineless Wonders is to render the repulsive beautiful.
From SAT Tests
With a command that embraces 10,440 sq. mi.�all five of the northernmost provinces that comprise I Corps �Walt had the task of stabilizing South Viet Nam's queasiest territory.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
