ticklish
Americanadjective
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sensitive to tickling.
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requiring careful or delicate handling or action; difficult or risky; dicey.
a ticklish situation.
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extremely sensitive; touchy.
He is ticklish about being interrupted.
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unstable or easily upset, as a boat; unsteady.
adjective
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susceptible and sensitive to being tickled
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delicate or difficult
a ticklish situation
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easily upset or offended
Other Word Forms
- ticklishly adverb
- ticklishness noun
Etymology
Origin of ticklish
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.
Without Stokes being able to bowl, England's selection was destined to be ticklish.
From BBC • Jan. 24, 2024
The job drought is a ticklish problem for the ruling Communist Party, which is overseeing a sluggish post-pandemic economic recovery worsened by a downturn in the property market.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 12, 2023
Visuals are overrated, this intermittently ticklish thriller seems to insist.
From New York Times • Oct. 13, 2022
There’s a ticklish note of meta-pleasure to Blanchett’s performance: She may be playing the role of the conductor with impeccable poise, but so, of course, is Lydia herself.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 6, 2022
Instead of getting to know each other, becoming familiar with likes and dislikes, ticklish spots, pet peeves, Desdemona and Lefty tried to defamiliarize themselves with each other.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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.
