nausea

/ˈnɑʒə/

/ˈnɔziə/

When you feel like you might throw up, that's nausea. I know you're feeling sea sick, but if our boat sinks, nausea will be the least of your problems.

Nausea gets its root from the Greek word for ship, naus, so it might have originally meant sea sickness in particular. Remembering this origin might help you spell nausea correctly too, since it ends with “sea.” But nausea can strike on dry land just as well, from eating the wrong thing, catching the flu, reading on a moving bus...just thinking of it all makes me sick to my stomach.

Definitions of nausea

1. noun

   the state that precedes vomiting
   synonyms: sickness

   types:

   kinetosis, motion sickness

   the state of being dizzy or nauseated because of the motions that occur while traveling in or on a moving vehicle

   morning sickness

   nausea early in the day; a characteristic symptom in the early months of pregnancy

   qualm, queasiness, squeamishness

   a mild state of nausea

   air sickness, airsickness

   motion sickness experienced while traveling by air (especially during turbulence)

   car sickness

   motion sickness experienced while traveling in a car

   mal de mer, naupathia, seasickness

   motion sickness experienced while traveling on water

   type of:

   symptom

   (medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease
2. noun

   disgust so strong it makes you feel sick
   type of:

   disgust

   strong feelings of dislike