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nauseous

nauseous

66 4.4
Feeling like you will be sick
  • adjective
  • /ˈnɔːʒəs/
translation icon : con náuseas
  • She was nauseous during the long car trip, especially on the winding roads.
  • make someone nauseous

What's worse than feeling nauseous all day long?

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Examples

  • Anyway, Sarah has a condition where she gets nauseous at the slightest smell and sight of certain foods.

  • Listening to the roller coaster ride descriptions always makes me feel nauseous.

  • God, I still get nauseous before I have to go out there.

  • But he started to feel nauseous on the way back.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • What's worse than feeling nauseous all day long?

  • I'm feeling a little nauseous!

  • Nearly everybody got nauseous during their first few hours in weightlessness.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • It seemed to go perfectly, but then... he started to feel nauseous on the way back.

  • The rocking of the small boat and the smell of fish had made her nauseous.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • After eating that old pizza, I felt nauseous and had to sit down.

Synonyms

sick
vsnauseous
579 1.0

Feeling like you might throw up

focuses on the core medical sensation of nausea rather than general illness
queasy
vsnauseous
30 4.1

Feeling sick and likely to throw up

refers mainly to experiencing the nausea itself rather than causing it
nauseated
vsnauseous
10 4.5

Feeling sick and likely to vomit

is identical in meaning but is a different word form
barfy
vsnauseous
  • Informal
1 8.9

Feeling like you will throw up or making someone feel like that

is the neutral clinical description of the same physical urge
sickish
vsnauseous
1 6.7

Slightly ill in the stomach and likely to throw up

expresses a fuller or clearer nausea sensation rather than mild discomfort
vomity
vsnauseous
8.8

Feeling like you are about to throw up

uses a standard phrasing to state that same stomach feeling
qualmish
vsnauseous
9.9

Feeling slightly sick or disgusted after seeing something unpleasant

restricts the meaning to the stomach sensation of nausea rather than disgust

Antonyms

142 1.0

In good health after being ill or hurt

How Nauseous

nauseous
66 4.4
queasy
30 4.1
uncomfortable
713 1.7

Surface Forms

nauseous positive
nauseouser comparative
nauseousest superlative

Morphology

nauseous = nausea (transparent) = nausea + ous

Meaning is directly derived from the noun 'nausea' plus the adjectival suffix '-ous'; the relation to 'feeling sick' is straightforward for learners.

Etymology

The word nauseous comes from the Greek nausia, which meant 'seasickness' and came from a word for 'ship', the same idea behind nautical and astronaut. So nauseous originally described the sick feeling on a rocking boat, and today it means 'feeling as if you will vomit'.