Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Tending to take offense with slight cause; oversensitive.
  • adjective Requiring special tact or skill in handling; delicate.
  • adjective Highly sensitive to touch. Used of a body part.
  • adjective Easily ignited or exploded.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Apt to take offense on slight provocation; irritable; irascible; peevish; testy: tetchy.
  • In decorative art, made up of small points, broken lines, or touches, and not drawn in a firm unbroken line, as the outline of any pattern.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective colloq. Peevish; irritable; irascible; techy; apt to take fire.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of a situation Extremely sensitive or volatile; easily disturbed to the point of becoming unstable; requiring caution or tactfulness.
  • adjective of a person Easily offended; oversensitive; ticklish.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective difficult to handle; requiring great tact
  • adjective quick to take offense

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From touch + -y

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Examples

  • BENNETT: It is an interesting thing about Huckabee, what you called touchy feely.

    CNN Transcript Dec 12, 2007 2007

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

  • This has never happened to me in touchy Chiapas or Oaxaca or even very touchy Mexico City.

    Safety in lakeside 2009

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