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Meanings of ticklish in English

Difficult to handle; requiring great tact.

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Synonyms
Examples for "delicate"
Examples for "delicate"
1
I thought for a moment on how to answer Evon's delicate question.
The ghost chronicles
2
The delicate manoeuvres necessary to pilot through change simply take too long.
The Irish Times
3
In Greece's increasingly tense political environment the politics of food is delicate.
The Guardian
4
I asked, sort of a delicate way of not answering her question.
The Kingmaker
5
The event was a sign of the delicate power balance in Iraq.
Reuters
1
Unfortunately, Laura had brought up what apparently was a very touchy subject.
Battlestar Galactica
2
It's the touchy-feely bit that the agency will need to consider seriously.
Wired
3
Quinn wasn't good at touchy-feely, especially in the middle of a trial.
By reason of insanity
4
And tackling touchy events doesn't have to have a long historical context.
The Irish Times
5
Artists were so touchy-feely-itwas impossible to tell what they actually meant.
Wicked
Usage of ticklish in English
1
These royalists are in a ticklish position; I can tell her that.
White Lies
2
You're not ticklish, are you? He pulled himself forward hand over hand.
Divide and Rule
3
It was a ticklish job, saddling the pony for the first time.
The red pony
4
He was at the first obstacle, the foremost of several ticklish crossroads.
Dayworld
5
This also had been of help to them in several ticklish situations.
The Boy Allies at Jutland; Or, The Greatest Naval Battle of Hist...
6
Naturally, they were long on that and hence in a ticklish position.
The Financier: A Novel
7
Now my job begins; and I guess it's as ticklish as yours.
Jewel Weed
8
More ticklish is what happens when the associate merely suspects something's amiss.
Private Sector
9
The excitation of the ticklish receptors, like pain, compels self-defensive motor acts.
The Origin and Nature of the Emotions; Miscellaneous Papers
10
Andrew, as the rear guard-his most ticklish moment-backedslowly toward the trees.
Way of the Lawless
11
We've been in some ticklish positions before and pulled through all right.
The Boy Allies at Verdun; Or, Saving France from the Enemy
12
But it would be a ticklish proposition without any rope from above.
The Radio Boys on the Mexican Border
13
His hands slid upward, stroking my ticklish sides through my damp T-shirt.
Gentlemen prefer succubi
14
From the first I knew 'twas bound to be a ticklish job.
The Powers and Maxine
15
We are on ticklish service, and require all our wits about us.
Wyandotté; Or, The Hutted Knoll: A Tale
16
He nibbled at her neck, right where he knew she was ticklish.
The preacher
About this term
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Ticklish through the time
Ticklish across language varieties
United Kingdom
Common
United States of America
Common