nauseating

adjective

nau·​se·​at·​ing ˈnȯ-zhē-ˌā-tiŋ 

-shē-, 

-zē-, 

-sē-

: causing nausea or especially disgust

The details … are nauseating to read …

—Dexter Filkins

nauseatingly adverb

Synonyms of nauseating

• sickening
• disgusting
• ugly
• awful
• horrible
• shocking
• obnoxious
• hideous
• obscene
• offensive
• dreadful

Examples of nauseating in a Sentence

the nauseating smell of rotting garbage

The way the animals were treated was nauseating.

It was nauseating to see the two of them act like lovesick teenagers.

Recent Examples on the Web

Violent movies and video games are not the cause of the nauseating wave of mass shootings and random gun deaths in this country; the cause is the guns. — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Oct. 2019

With a 25 percent discount, the price is also slightly less nauseating. — Adrienne So, Wired, 13 Apr. 2021

And sometimes, the cooking process looks pretty nauseating, but the finished product turns out to look so normal that commenters suspect the video was cut and edited. — Lydia Wang, refinery29.com, 2 June 2021

Hours into shooting this scene, the constantly flickering lights become somewhat nauseating. — Eliana Dockterman, Time, 20 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1645, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nauseating

• abating
• awaiting
• berating
• castrating
• chelating
• collating
• conflating
• creating
• debating
• deflating
• derating
• dictating

Kids Definition

nauseating

adjective

nau·​se·​at·​ing

ˈnȯ-zē-ˌāt-iŋ, 

-sē-, 

-zhē-, 

-shē-

: causing nausea and especially disgust

nauseating behavior

nauseatingly adverb