touchy
Adjective Satellite
- quick to take offense
- difficult to handle; requiring great tact
- "a touchy subject"
Adj
- Extremely sensitive or volatile; easily disturbed to the point of becoming unstable; requiring caution or tactfulness.
- Easily offended, oversensitive.
- Inclined to engage in physical touch.
Adjective
- Easily offended or sensitive; requiring careful handling.
Examples
- Discussing rule interpretations with a competitive Scrabble player can be a TOUCHY subject.
- He can be very touchy when you talk about his cat, so be as tactful as possible.
- It is an extremely touchy situation, with everybody's patience wearing thin.
Origin / 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
delicate, feisty, huffy, thin-skinned, ticklish, cranky, handsy, irascible, irritable, tetchy, touch and go, touchy-feely
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 14
touchy: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordtouchy: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
touchy: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary