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Synonyms

squeamish

American  
[skwee-mish] / ˈskwi mɪʃ /

adjective

  1. fastidious or dainty.

    Synonyms:
    modest
    Antonyms:
    bold

  2. easily shocked by anything slightly immodest; prudish.

    Antonyms:
    bold

  3. excessively particular or scrupulous as to the moral aspect of things.

    Synonyms:
    exacting, delicate, finicky, finical
    Antonyms:
    bold

  4. easily nauseated or disgusted.

    to get squeamish at the sight of blood.
squeamish British  
/ ˈskwiːmɪʃ /

adjective

  1. easily sickened or nauseated, as by the sight of blood

  2. easily shocked; fastidious or prudish

  3. easily frightened

    squeamish about spiders
"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

Other Word Forms

  • oversqueamish adjective
  • oversqueamishly adverb
  • oversqueamishness noun
  • squeamishly adverb
  • squeamishness noun
  • unsqueamish adjective
  • unsqueamishly adverb
  • unsqueamishness noun

Etymology

Origin of squeamish

First recorded in 1450–1500; late Middle English squaymysch, squaimish(e), alteration of squemes, squaymes, squaimous, squaymous “easily nauseated, nauseating, fastidious,” from Anglo-French escoimus, escoymous; further origin uncertain

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.