stomach-churning

American

[stuhm-uhk-chur-ning] / ˈstʌm əkˌtʃɜr nɪŋ /

adjective

causing nausea.
causing a queasy feeling in one’s stomach, as from anxiety, anger, or disgust.

The car accident was a stomach-churning sight.

Etymology

Origin of stomach-churning

First recorded in 1895–1900

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.

This stomach-churning feature traffics in tropes familiar from ‘The Exorcist’ and other horror movies to tell its Egyptian story.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

The iShares Silver Trust ETF this year has had a stomach-churning round trip from about $70 to nearly $110 and back.

From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026

That’s a stomach-churning loss of almost 30% in just six weeks.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 28, 2025

"It was stomach-churning for a lot of the residents of Hilltown and the parish to see that building," he said.

From BBC • May 3, 2025

At the peak of her arc, the silence seemed to overwhelm everything—her stomach-churning weightlessness, the mix of excitement and fear rushing through her, the wind against her face.

From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023