Synonyms for squeamish
- adjective
Most common
Definitions
- adj. 1
Easily shocked, sickened or frightened; tending to be nauseated or nervous; oversensitive.
He might have made a good doctor, had he not been so squeamish at the sight of blood.
Related words
- Word family
- squeamishness
Choose the right word
We call a person fastidious when his taste or feelings are offended by trifling defects or errors; we call him squeamish when he is excessively nice or critical on minor points, and also when he is overscrupulous as to questions of duty.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Example sentences
- fastidious He's very fastidious when it comes to booking trips.
- queasy Tom had a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
- scrupulous Tom is scrupulous in matters of business.
- prudish "You're sexist." " And I think you're prudish."
- sick The doctor sat up all night with the sick old man.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| squeamish | rising | |
| fastidious | steady | |
| queasy | rising | |
| scrupulous | steady | |
| prudish | rising | |
| sick | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- nice1, sick1
- 6 letters
- dainty2, queasy2, prissy2
- 7 letters
- finicky3, prudish2, finical, squeamy
- 8 letters
- overnice
- 9 letters
- difficult3
- 10 letters
- fastidious4, scrupulous3
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (dainty2 = 2 syllables).