Ticklish

adj

adj ·3 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Sensitive or susceptible to being tickled.

    "She is ticklish only on her tummy and the bottoms of her feet."

  2. 2
    Touchy, sensitive, or delicate.

    "That was the funeral oration of one friend and client; and he could not help a certain apprehension lest the good name of another should be sucked down in the eddy of the scandal. It was, at least, a ticklish decision that he had to make; and self-reliant as he was by habit, he began to cherish a longing for advice."

Adjective
  1. 1
    difficult to handle; requiring great tact wordnet

Example

More examples

"Tom tried to tickle Mary, but found out she was much less ticklish than he was."

Etymology

From tickle + -ish.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.