touchy-feely
Appearance
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Adjective
[edit]touchy-feely (comparative more touchy-feely, superlative most touchy-feely)
- (informal) Having a fondness for physical contact with other people, especially to an excessive degree.
- Coordinate term: huggy
- My last boyfriend was a lovely guy, but I dumped him because he was too touchy-feely with me in public.
- 2009 April 16, Jon Mooallem, quoting Gretchen Hellar, “The End Is Near! (Yay!)”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
- Kühnel’s wife, Berta, began by asking everyone to join hands. […] When I asked her later what she made of the exercise, Hellar told me: “First of all, I’m not a good-feelings, touchy-feely kind of person.”
- 2015 February 23, “Oscars 2015: 10 things we learned”, in The Guardian (London)[2]:
- This time, the actor was in uncomfortably touchy-feely form. First he sidled up behind Scarlett Johansson as she posed on the red carpet, kissed her, and slid his hand around her waist.
- (idiomatic, usually derogatory) Driven by intuition or emotion, with a connotation of de-emphasis of rational thought or logic.
- He preferred the clarity of science and left the touchy-feely stuff to others.
- (idiomatic, usually derogatory) Appealing to emotion, sympathy, or romance.
- I think the movie had too much touchy-feely nonsense and not enough action.
Derived terms
[edit]Noun
[edit]- Physical contact, typically sexual, and usually inappropriate or unwanted.
- Kyle Hoffman, letter in Valley Advocate, quoted 1979 February 10 by Allen Young, “Living In The Country”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 28, page 8:
- Why is it that, when straight men are touched, it is an affront worthy of outrage and police investigation, yet a woman's being the subject of a bar-wide game of touchy-feely is par for the course?
- 2025 February 13, @ZekeCares, Twitter[3]:
- When I was wrestling, females were just appearing on the scene. I loved my coach's position. "If they want to wrestle with the boys, sure, I will put our wrestlers on the mat for some touchy feely. (Paraphrased, but not by much)
- Kyle Hoffman, letter in Valley Advocate, quoted 1979 February 10 by Allen Young, “Living In The Country”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 28, page 8: