touchy

touchy (ˈtʌtʃɪ)

—*adj* , touchier, touchiest
1.	easily upset or irritated; oversensitive
2.	extremely risky
3.	easily ignited

'touchily

—*adv*

'touchiness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

touchy

"too sensitive," 1605, perhaps an alt. of tetchy (q.v.) infl. by touch (v.).

Example sentences

We were sensitized to the fact that stem cells were going to be touchy

territory.

They can look at her lovely lady lumps, but no touchy the humpy.

Most of them are still far too touchy about sovereignty to agree on any

meaningful pooling of it.

She became touchy and sarcastic, alienated friends and was soon fired from her

job.

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hasty huffy irascible petulant sour splenetic

Matching Quote

"In the tropics the white feels weakened, or downright weak, whence comes the heightened tendency to outbursts of aggression. People who are polite, modest or even humble in Europe fall easily into a rage here, get into fights, destroy other people, start feuds, fall prey to megalomania, grow touchy about their prestige and significance and go around completely devoid of self-criticism, bragging about the position and the influence they have at home."

-Ryszard Kapuscinski

touchy

touch·y