English Explanatory Dictionary

touchy

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Extremely sensitive or volatile; easily disturbed to the point of becoming unstable; requiring caution or tactfulness.
  2. Easily offended, oversensitive.
  3. Inclined to engage in physical touch.

Pronunciation

/ˈtʌt͡ʃi/ en-us-touchy.ogg

Word forms

touchy touchier touchiest

Etymology

A variant of earlier tetchy (“cranky, easily annoyed, difficult to handle”), under influence from some senses of touch (“affect, disturb”) and simulating touch + -y.

Synonyms

tetchy delicate touch and go scabrous irritable irascible cranky handsy touchy-feely

Antonyms

untouchy

Related words

touchy-feely

Derived words

touchiness
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on T Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary