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
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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
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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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.
Then-new Chair Paul Volcker, a personal hero of current boss Jerome Powell, wasn’t squeamish.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
Things were different in Great Britain and her colonies, where dissections left people squeamish.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 5, 2026
In other words, her instincts and approach in the Home Office might make some within the party squeamish.
From BBC • Sep. 29, 2025
But even this nice moment carries a squeamish undercurrent.
From Salon • Aug. 10, 2025
She was not squeamish, though, and deftly caught spewings that were sometimes babies, sometimes monsters.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
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.
