nauseating
Meaning
causing or liable to cause a feeling of nausea or disgust; sickening.
extremely unpleasant or offensive.
Structure
Usage
the smell from the chemical spill was absolutely nauseating.
he found the movie's violence to be visually nauseating.
her nauseatingly sweet compliments made everyone uncomfortable.
Etymology
the word 'nauseating' originates from the greek 'nausia', which literally meant 'seasickness', derived from 'naus' (ship). this term passed into latin as 'nausea', retaining the core meaning of sickness, particularly motion sickness. the latin verb 'nauseare' (to feel seasick, to cause sickness) was formed, which entered english as 'nauseate'. by adding the english adjectival suffix '-ing', the word evolved to describe something that actively causes the feeling of sickness or intense disgust, extending the physical sensation to a metaphorical sense of profound repulsion.
Analysis
nause (from latin 'nausea', meaning 'seasickness, nausea', itself from greek 'nausia', from 'naus' meaning 'ship'); at (a latin verbal suffix used to form verbs, here part of the base verb 'nauseate'); ing (english suffix forming present participles and adjectives from verbs).