Which Word is Correct: Nauseous or Nauseated?

Before considering other ways to say nauseated or nauseous, it’s important to realize that many editors will tsk-tsk if they read something like “Bob felt nauseous,” preferring “Bob felt nauseated.”

Why?

Let’s review an explanation from Vocabulary.com:

“If you’re nauseated, you’re about to throw up, if you’re nauseous, you’re a toxic funk and you’re going to make someone else puke. These words are used interchangeably so often that it makes word nerds feel nauseated.”

Keep your editor happy, and choose nauseated for characters with queasy stomachs.

Capitalize on Idioms

Rather than rely on idioms directly, analyze the meanings behind them to produce something more graphic.

Butterflies in the stomach

Butterflies? Ha! I had a whole swarm of bees in there.

Stomach doing flip flops or turning somersaults

John’s stomach went into an instant rehearsal for the next Olympic Games gymnastics.

Stomach in a flap

A bevy of birds and bats flailed their wings in Sherry’s stomach, bouncing between ribs and spine in a swelling frenzy of excitement.

Stomach churns/lurches/tightens

His bacon-and-eggs breakfast roiled in his belly.

Her stomach agitated and grumbled like an off-balance washing machine.

A sudden tautness assailed his middle, reminiscent of the tightrope he’d trod just moments before.

Create a Memorable Phrase

My stomach is carousing with my kidneys.

His gut was knotted tighter than a hangman’s noose round the neck of a 300-pound wrestler.

Punch up Your Dialogue

“I’m suffering from collywobbles.”

“I’ve got an extreme case of the dithers.”

Speaking of Dialogue, Let’s Keep It Real

Check this list of more than seventy-five idioms for to vomit. In dialogue, anything goes. Your characters should sound like real people, not cardboard cutouts with perfect grammar.

B and C
barf, bark at the ants, blow chunks, blow groceries, bob, boke it, boot, boot and rally, bow down before the porcelain god/goddess, burl, cack, call Ralph on the porcelain phone, call the whales, chuck, chuck one’s cookies, chunder, cry Ruth

D to H
de-food, dial the porcelain phone, do the technicolor yawn, drive the porcelain bus, dry heave, earl, fail a fortitude save, feed the fish, fergle, gack, gag, gragg, heave, honk, horf, hork, hug the porcelain god/goddess, hug the toilet, hurl

K to M
kak, kiss Ralph, laugh at the ground, laugh at the toilet, launch one’s lunch, liquid laugh, lose one’s lunch, multicolor yawn

P to S
paint the walls, park the tiger, pash the porcelain princess, pray to the great ceramic idol, pray to the porcelain god/goddess, psychedelic yawn, puke, ralph, readjust fluids, retch, see one’s lunch again, spew

T to U
tactical chunder, talk to Ralph on the big white telephone, technicolor yawn, throw up, toss a sidewalk pizza, toss/woof one’s cookies, un-eat, un-swallow, upchuck, url, urp

V to Y
vurp, whistle beef, worship the god/goddess, worship the ivory idol, yack, yarf, yark, yawn in technicolor, yodel groceries, york

Make the Most of Unpleasant Nouns

You could compare queasiness or nausea to a number of unpleasant things. Here are more than fifty to get you started.

(I had way too much fun with this part of the post.)

B to D
baboon’s butt, bad news, camel spit, cat puke, cow slobber, crawling maggots, decomposing meat, dirty ashtray, dirty diapers, dog’s breakfast, dog vomit

E to H
elephant ringworms, ex’s cooking, ex’s grumbling, fried frog legs, frog in a blender, funeral, fur ball, garbage, gargantuan booger, hippo diarrhea, hyena crap

K to P
kitty-litter box, manure, mashed-up bugs, moldy warts, monkey mucus, offal, oozing bedsore, out-of-tune violin, pig slop, plumber’s butt, porta-potty, puréed grasshoppers

R to T
rat feces, road kill, rotten tomato, rotting haggis, sewer, sinking boat, slimy cesspit, slithering slugs, snail slime, snake snot, squashed squid, tainted hummus, throbbing zit, toenail fungus, toilet

U to Z
used condom, weeping boil, wet cigarette butt, wormy liver, zombie brains

Exploit your imagination and experiences to generate fresh comparisons.

Invent New Adjectives

Add able, al, est, free, ful, ible, ic, ish, ive, less, like, oid, ous, and other suffixes to nouns and verbs to create new adjectives.

Search for New Words

Explore a thesaurus for any of the words you find here. Judicious selection will show whether your protagonist is nervous, ill, or terrified.

But If You’re on the Search for Speedy Nauseated Alternatives …

… scour through this list of words and expressions. Some are colloquial and suitable for dialogue. Others are dated, apropos for period fiction.

A to D
ailing, airsick, anemic, anxious, atremble, barfy, bedridden, bilious, blah, carsick, crummy, debilitated, diseased, discombobulated, disoriented, distressed, dizzy, down, down in the mouth, drained, dreadful

E to I
execrable, failing, faint, febrile, feeble, feverish, foul, fragile, frail, fuddled, giddy, green, green about the gills, groggy, horrible, hurting, icky, ill, in a bad way, in poor health, incapacitated, indisposed, infirm

L to P
laid up, like death, lightheaded, lousy, low, miserable, muzzy, nasty, not so hot, off, off-color, out of sorts, peaked, poorly, pukey, puny, putrid

Q to S
qualmish, queasy, rocky, rotten, rough, run-down, seasick, seedy, shaken, shaky, sick, sick as a dog, sick to the stomach, sickened, sickish, sickly, squeamish, stricken

T to Y
tormented, travel-sick, trembling, troubled, uncomfortable, under par, under the weather, uneasy, unhealthy, unsettled, unsound, unstable, unsteady, unwell, upset, vertiginous, vile, weak, wobbly, woebegone, woozy, wretched, yucky