How to Use ticklish in a Sentence

ticklish

adjective
  • My feet are very ticklish.
  • These flip-flops just feel good — if your feet aren't ticklish, that is.
    — Rebecca Carhart, Travel + Leisure, 30 May 2021
  • There will be scads of ticklish budget issues to contend with—and so many more useful lessons to be learned.
    — Michelle Cottle, The Atlantic, 8 Aug. 2017
  • While a good portion of this year’s ballot is straightforward, there are three ticklish spots.
    — Chris Fedor, cleveland, 27 Jan. 2022
  • The reason some areas of our bodies are more ticklish than others is unknown, as well.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2016
  • What keeps Sandy from jumping turns out to be one of Row’s cleverest, most ticklish plot devices.
    — John Domini, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Truth is, the one area that's often ignored is the roof of his mouth, which is one of the most ticklish parts of the body, says Hess.
    — Judy Dutton, Redbook, 20 Jan. 2018
  • The researchers, who worked with young male rats (the most ticklish group), first wanted to confirm the previous findings.
    — Catherine Caruso, Scientific American, 10 Nov. 2016
  • That’s the likeliest candidate for the naming now, but there’s a ticklish problem.
    — David Phelan, Forbes, 18 Oct. 2021
  • Harry’s plan puts Charles in a ticklish spot faced by many parents, albeit on a much smaller financial scale.
    — Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2020
  • Is this because the queen is extremely ticklish and prone to hysterical giggling fits?
    — Jessica Pan, The Cut, 17 May 2018
  • From celebrities to brands and many other users across the platform, folks chimed in to share their despair with Hollywood’s most ticklish friend.
    — Ryan Fish, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • Bright eyes, cheeks that glow,Chubby fingers, ticklish toes,A playful grin, a perfect nose,Very special hair and clothes.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 16 July 2021
  • There’s a ticklish elusiveness to the portraits of Blume’s husbands in the book, and to those of her kids, Randy and Larry, as well.
    — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Some anglers also found to their chagrin that those multiple hooks stuck in hands and legs just as quickly as in bass—unhooking an A-rig fish was ticklish business.
    — Frank Sargeant, al, 29 Sep. 2019
  • Talking candidly about how to collect the revenues that fund government is more ticklish, especially when the pain is likely to be broadly shared.
    — The Economist, 7 Apr. 2018
  • Disclosing sensitive issues regarding lawsuits can be very ticklish for a board or manager.
    — Kelly G. Richardson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Jan. 2022
  • The truth about smell seems to ambush and retreat, materialize and dissipate, like lilacs on a ticklish June breeze, or the ghost of yesterday’s stir-fry.
    — Abigail Tucker, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Sep. 2022
  • Anyone who has willed themselves to not feel a tickle as ticklish can appreciate the difference between stimulation and our perception of it.
    — Austin Frakt, New York Times, 2 Dec. 2019
  • But all that interest, here, also can generate another ticklish dynamic.
    — Brian Hamilton, New York Times, 8 May 2026
  • Transporting the patient 12 miles to Hartford Hospital would be ticklish.
    — Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 1 Mar. 2026
  • In practice, the last of these—which sounds tame, and which refers to the number of people who will be affected by the act—is probably the most morally ticklish, as any secondhand smoker can confirm.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
  • By combining literacy with something welcoming and familiar like food, Cruz hopes to make the ticklish topic more approachable.
    — Catharine Kaufman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026
  • Many mammal species are sensitive to the light, ticklish annoyance of an insect crawling across their skin, but fewer respond to gargalesis—intense, laughter-inducing tickling.
    — Catherine Caruso, Scientific American, 10 Nov. 2016
  • But syndications also posed a ticklish internal situation for the Alliance.
    — Peter Elkind, Fortune, 20 Dec. 2017
  • While plenty of jokers and pranksters offered responses, most users responded by unexpectedly trauma-dumping on the ticklish Muppet.
    — David Matthews, New York Daily News, 31 Jan. 2024
  • The orchestra accomplished the most ticklish passages by trading off phrases within sections, spurred itself to a sprint for the finish line — and had enough energy for a Piazzolla encore.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 15 Oct. 2019
  • For the time being, then, a free-world strategy can’t liberate the United States from ongoing engagement, and perhaps ticklish compromises, with key autocracies that have a foot in both camps.
    — Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 24 May 2022
  • The subject has been ticklish for Harris, who as San Francisco district attorney declined to seek a death sentence for a man charged with killing a police officer, keeping a campaign promise while taking political heat.
    — Bob Egelko, SFChronicle.com, 16 June 2019
  • With prominent ex-players seeming to rally around the candidacy of pitching coach Nate Yeskie, this is turning into a ticklish situation for athletic director Scott Barnes.
    — oregonlive.com, 6 June 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ticklish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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