Meaning

3 senses
  1. 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.

    heikel, empfindlich

    чувстви́тельныйčuvstvítelʹnyj

  2. Easily offended, oversensitive.

    He can be very touchy when you talk about his estranged son, so be as tactful as possible.

    gereizt, reizbar, übelnehmerisch

    оби́дчивыйobídčivyj, раздражи́тельныйrazdražítelʹnyj

  3. (informal)Inclined to engage in physical touch.

More definitions
  • difficult to handle; requiring great tact
  • quick to take offense

Examples

33 sentences
  1. That's a touchy issue.

    Це делікатна проблема.

    ruЭто щекотливый вопрос.

    deDas ist ein heikles Thema.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  2. Tom is touchy.

    Том уразливий.

    deTom ist empfindlich.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  3. It's a touchy subject.

    Це делікатне питання.

    ruЭто щекотливая тема.

    deDas ist ein heikles Thema.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · Hybrid · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  4. Tom is very touchy, isn't he?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem
  5. Tom is quite touchy.

    ruТом довольно обидчивый.

    deTom ist ziemlich empfindlich.

    CC BY · Tatoeba · CK · C1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

7 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
(situation) sensitive or volatile:
(person) easily offended; oversensitive:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
(situation) sensitive or volatile:
(person) easily offended; oversensitive:

Origin

A variant of earlier tetchy (“cranky, easily annoyed, difficult to handle”), under influen

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

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

touchier, touchiest
Comparativetouchier Lesson
Superlativetouchiest Lesson

regular

Synonyms

13 synonyms
easily irritated:irritableirasciblecranky
Close in meaning

Antonyms

1 antonyms

Word family

2 related words
Relatedtouchiness
Derivedtouchily

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
touchy — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto