10

I'm looking for a word to describe someone who is sensitive to the point that other have to tiptoe around her. In other words, someone who can't handle routine jokes, normal criticism, or a comment that can possibly be interpreted in a negative way, even when it wasn't meant like that.

Improve this question
4
  • 2
    I'm sorry I can't answer, I guess due to protection and me only having 101 rep. In German, we have a metaphor: 'mimosa' or 'shrinking violet' which is a very sensitive flower, which reacts sensitive on touching. I don't know whether it is used in English too.
    – user unknown
    Apr 12, 2012 at 1:36
  • @userunknown We do have the phrase shrinking violet in American English. This particular questioner, however, was looking for a single word.
    – user14070
    Apr 12, 2012 at 12:48
  • @dmr you both titled and tagged this as Single word, but you commented on later answers that this was not a requirement. In the future, please tag and title requests appropriately.
    – user14070
    Apr 12, 2012 at 12:53
  • @JoshuaDrake Sure- I will make sure to be more precise in the future.
    – dmr
    Apr 12, 2012 at 18:37

10 Answers 10

Reset to default
18

Someone who is hypersensitive is often said to be thin-skinned.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    Nice answer, with two good choices for the price of one! :)
    – John Y
    Apr 12, 2012 at 3:32
  • Great answer- thanks! I think I like hypersensitive better; it seems to me to have more of a negative connotation than thin-skinned.
    – dmr
    Apr 12, 2012 at 3:46
8

The first word that springs to mind is touchy.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    This is good- but I'm looking to add a sense of vulnerability to the adjective rather than a sense of getting angry.
    – dmr
    Apr 11, 2012 at 20:47
  • @dmr hypersensitive, at least to me, does not really encompass vulnerability.
    – user14070
    Apr 12, 2012 at 12:49
6

I like the term "brittle" if you prefer emotional fragility over crabbiness.

If you prefer to infer a certain sour attitude, perhaps "prickly" would fit.

Improve this answer
4

Highly strung perhaps?

edit: Admittedly this is not a single word.

Improve this answer
2
  • I don't mind that it's two words. However, this adds a sense of the person being tense that I'm not looking for.
    – dmr
    Apr 11, 2012 at 20:48
  • high-strung is one word.
    – zpletan
    Apr 11, 2012 at 21:52
2

I can think of irascible, which conveys the sense of being extremely easy to anger.

Improve this answer
1
  • I'm not looking for that sense. Thanks though!
    – dmr
    Apr 11, 2012 at 21:13
2

Consider nervous ("Easily agitated or alarmed" and "Apprehensive, anxious, hesitant, worried"), or in the UK, nervy ("Feeling nervous, anxious or agitated"). Also excitable, edgy ("nervous, apprehensive"), uptight, jumpy, sensitive, fragile, delicate.

Edit: Neurotic, typically negative in connotation, is used informally to mean "overly anxious".

Improve this answer
3
  • Fragile is good, but its connotation is more on the positive side while I'm looking for something with a negative subtext.
    – dmr
    Apr 11, 2012 at 22:34
  • @dmr, I've added "Neurotic, typically negative in connotation ..."
    – James Waldby - jwpat7
    Apr 11, 2012 at 22:46
  • Good suggestion, but I'm looking for something that just means sensitive, not with a nervous side.
    – dmr
    Apr 12, 2012 at 3:44
2

Perhaps the word you are looking for really is "sensitive":

excessively affected by external agencies or influences.
easily pained, annoyed, etc.

Improve this answer
1
  • Sensitive is not strong enough for what I want.
    – dmr
    Apr 11, 2012 at 23:18
1

What about "susceptible"? I think il fits the sense that you have expressed.

Collins English Dictionary defines "susceptible" as follow: "easily impressed emotionally".

Also, Oxford Advanced Learning's Dictionary defines "susceptible" as follow; "easily influenced by feelings and emotions", ("She was both charming and susceptible.")

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    Technically I'm sure you're right, but to me susceptible feels like vulnerable and nothing else.
    – dmr
    Apr 11, 2012 at 22:03
1

Victimizing themselves? eg. Alice tends to victimize herself.

Or perhaps, to a higher degree, has a persecution complex?

Both are two word phrases and may be more severe than what you intend to use the word for.

Improve this answer
0

In the vernacular, someone who is hypersensitive could be called a:

bitch

Improve this answer
8
  • NOT what I was looking for
    – dmr
    Apr 12, 2012 at 3:43
  • Please don't waste your time being offended. It's your own choice.
    – zzzzBov
    Apr 12, 2012 at 3:52
  • @zzzBov "..and if you read it and dislike it, you don't have to remain silent about it" ;)
    – dmr
    Apr 12, 2012 at 5:58
  • 1
    @dmr, I did provide what I thought were reasonable indicators that it wouldn't be suitable for all situations (or all readers), in addition to a politically correct alternative. I suppose a hypersensitive reader could come to the wrong conclusion.
    – zzzzBov
    Apr 12, 2012 at 18:43
  • 1
    @dmr, What may be dangerously incorrect in one situation is perfect in another. This is exactly the word I would use for a hypersensitive person if I were speaking with my friends. If the person was really hypersensitive, I may even add an enhancing expletive.
    – user545424
    Apr 13, 2012 at 1:20

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.