ticklish

[ tik-lish ]
See synonyms for: ticklishticklishness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. sensitive to tickling.

  2. requiring careful or delicate handling or action; difficult or risky; dicey: a ticklish situation.

  1. extremely sensitive; touchy: He is ticklish about being interrupted.

  2. unstable or easily upset, as a boat; unsteady.

Origin of ticklish

1
First recorded in 1575–85; tickle + -ish1

Other words from ticklish

  • tick·lish·ly, adverb
  • tick·lish·ness, noun

Words Nearby ticklish

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ticklish in a sentence

  • It was a ticklish business recovering the sledge which hung suspended in the crevasse.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • It164 would have been a ticklish business to make one's way along the deck then, he thought.

    Tom Slade with the Colors | Percy K. Fitzhugh

British Dictionary definitions for ticklish

ticklish

/ (ˈtɪklɪʃ) /


adjective
  1. susceptible and sensitive to being tickled

  2. delicate or difficult: a ticklish situation

  1. easily upset or offended

Derived forms of ticklish

  • ticklishly, adverb
  • ticklishness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012