touchy
/ˈtʌt͡ʃi/ adjective, verb
Forms touchier touchiest
- adjective (of a situation) Extremely sensitive or volatile; easily disturbed to the point of becoming unstable; requiring caution or tactfulness. “It is an extremely touchy situation, with everybody's patience wearing thin.”
- adjective (of a person) Easily offended, oversensitive. “He can be very touchy when you talk about his estranged son, so be as tactful as possible.”
- adjective (informal) Inclined to engage in physical touch.
- verb (ambitransitive, childish) To touch.
Synonyms
tetchy delicate touch and go scabrous irritable irascible cranky handsy touchy-feely huffy thin-skinned feisty ticklish
Antonyms
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.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [For techy, tetchy.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “touchy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details