squeamish
English
Alternative forms
- sweamish, swaimish (dialectal)
- squeimish, squemish, squeamous (obsolete)
Etymology
Alteration of earlier squeamous, substituting -ous with -ish, from Anglo-Norman escoymous.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈskwiːmɪʃ/
Audio (US) (file)
Adjective
squeamish (comparative more squeamish, superlative most squeamish)
- easily bothered or upset; tending to be nauseated or nervous; oversensitive
- He might have made a good doctor, had he not been so squeamish about the sight of blood.
- averse or reluctant
Translations
easily bothered or upset; tending to be nauseous or nervous
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