touchinessn.
/ˈtʌtʃɪnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈtətʃinᵻs/ 1. Extreme sensitivity of temper or disposition; the quality of being easily offended or angered; tendency to take offence with little cause; irascibility, irritability, tetchiness. Cf. touchy adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > touchiness > [noun]
touchiness1603
huffiness1678
sensibilities1767
sensitiveness1817
tactility1831
huffishness1841
miffiness1845
hoity-toityism1881
sensitivity1906
prickle1956
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > irritability > [noun]
impatiencec1230
eagernessa1400
unsufferancea1400
impatiency1526
testiness1526
impatientness1550
touchiness1603
tetchiness1623
irritability1791
twitchiness1834
rustiness1860
soreheadedness1860
shirtiness1868
chippiness1877
rattiness1898
cabin fever1918
snarkiness1960
edginess1963
1603 R. Rogers Seuen Treat. Contents sig. B6/1 Of other vnruly affections, touchines, peeuishnes, &c.
1653 J. Gauden Hieraspistes Pref. sig. d1v Nor is he ignorant of the touchinesse, and roughnesse..of many mens spirits in these times.
1731 T. Fuller Introductio ad Sapientam II. 303 My young Master..behaves himself like a cholerick Coxcomb; for Flattery, and a great Fortune nourish Touchiness.
1783 J. Andrews Ess. Republican Princ. 74 Such is their touchiness upon this subject, that whatever discloses the least tendency to freedom of discussion, is sure to meet with the most ungracious reception.
1828 Lights & Shades Eng. Life II. 52 She is known only by her one absorbing quality of touchiness, and is dreaded and hated accordingly.
1851 C. M. Kirkland Evening Bk. (1852) 88 To express an opinion counter to this tone of conversation, is to subject one's self to a charge of moroseness, touchiness, or want of sympathy.
1916 C. Mackenzie Man who tried to be It (1917) 76 He has no temperament—just touchiness and conceit.
1950 A. H. Gross tr. I. B. Singer Family Moskat ix. ii. 480 Everything was clear to him now, her recent nervousness, her touchiness, her veiled remarks about death.
2001 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 9 Dec. 14 Witnesses..testify to his lack of warmth, his mean streak, his touchiness, his bad temper.
2. With reference to a situation, problem, etc.: the quality of being difficult or risky to handle or deal with; trickiness, precariousness. Cf. touchy adj. 3. rare before the 20th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [noun] > insecurity > precariousness
ticklenessc1390
kittleness1578
ticklishness1583
touchiness1649
staggeringa1661
precariousness1666
criticalness1794
precarity1910
1649 Εἰκων Βασιλικη iii. 14 My friends resented it as a motion..not guided with such discretion, as the touchinesse of those times required.
1934 Light (San Antonio, Texas) 13 Jan. 2 a/3 Such is the touchiness of the subject that whispers go around in Washington about ‘our understanding with Russia’.
1971 Princeton Alumni Weekly 18 May 6/2 Both whites and blacks use the touchiness of racial differences as an excuse for not dealing with them.
2000 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 24 Jan. 13 Despite the touchiness of the subject matter, research proved relatively painless.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > qualities or styles of painting > [noun] > other qualities or styles
pastositya1806
touchiness1813
scene painting1834
horror vacui1845
texture1845
daguerreotypism1846
fruitiness1869
tintiness1886
posterishness1930
painterliness1950
non-figuration1955
simultaneity1957
hard-edge1961
figuration1962
colourfield1967
1813 Examiner 8 Feb. 90/2 The heads and hands have..a rich touchiness of pencil.
1813 Examiner 1 Mar. 141/1 The trees..have perhaps too minute a touchiness of foliage.
1821 New Monthly Mag. 3 391/1 It is too much limited to the outline of the body: it wants a good filling up, a breaking and touchiness in the intermediate spaces.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1603