nauseous

nauseated, nauseating, nauseous

1. In Britain nauseated and nauseating (as parts of the verb nauseate) occasionally mean respectively ‘affected by nausea’ and ‘causing nausea’ in the physical sense but more often mean ‘disgusted’ and (especially) ‘disgusting’: (nauseated)

• She had some brightly coloured blouses and dresses hanging in the cupboard, and the mere sight of them made her feel shaky and nauseated —C. F. Roe, 1990

• The duo…await a wave of laughter from the crowd, but there is only a nauseated silence —See Magazine, CanE 2002

• (nauseating) He woke up to the nauseating smell of burning skin and a roaring sound —FlyPast, 1991

• What a nauseating little Miss Perfect you are —R. Goddard, 1993

• Most anecdotes associated with Diogenes consistently depict him as a nauseating and narcissistic sociopath —First Things Magazine, AmE 2004.

Nauseous is used (1) to describe things that cause physical revulsion or feelings of disgust

• (But that doesn't mean I have to be involved in this kind of nauseous business —R. Harrison, 1991)

and (2) to mean ‘suffering from nausea’

• (She suddenly felt nauseous, and went to the sink and heaved uncontrollably —Q. Wilder, 1993).

2. In America, nauseated until recently only meant ‘physically suffering from nausea’, and nauseous strictly meant ‘causing nausea’. However, this distinction has become blurred, and nauseous is now commonly used in the same way as the physical meaning of nauseated:

• Was the President nauseous when he slumped to the floor, or was there any vomiting? —New York Times, 1992

• He felt slightly nauseous, and sore all over —fiction website, AmE 2005.

Meanwhile the ‘causing nausea’ sense of nauseous is being replaced by nauseating.