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
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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.
Squeamish readers may blanch at the amount of blood-flecked sputum the tubercular Chopin coughs up on the page, and at the procession of doctors with their leeches and milk diets.
From New York Times • Nov. 19, 2018
Squeamish diners have long made spoon polishing a nervous ritual, and almost everywhere a dirty caf� is called a "greasy spoon."
From Time Magazine Archive
Squeamish persons felt as if they had opened the wrong door.
From Time Magazine Archive
The tales which took the fancy of the Honourable Miss Languish, and which were echoed from the mouth and mind of Miss Squeamish were those of 'high romance,' as it is termed.
From Forgotten Tales of Long Ago by Bedford, F. D.
Squeamish was the word for it till near night, when we seemed suddenly to rally from it, though the motion continued the same; but the wind had veered to the south, and almost wholly lulled.
From Left on Labrador or, The cruise of the Schooner-yacht 'Curlew.' as Recorded by 'Wash.' by Stephens, C. A. (Charles Asbury)
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.
