It is very common to see people use these two words incorrectly. They’ll say nauseous when they really mean to say nauseated. This is understandable, given how similar they are in scope and meaning. This is the same reason why differentiating between poisonous and venomous can be so challenging.
So, what is the difference between nauseous and nauseated?
Nauseous = Cause Nausea
If you were to describe something as nauseous, that would mean that it causes nausea. (In case you didn’t already know, nausea is “a feeling of sickness with an inclination to vomit.”) Here’s an example:
Nauseous gases may be used in biological and chemical warfare.
Here’s another example:
Meant to induce vomiting, emetics are a nauseous substance.
Nauseated = Experience Nausea
What if you’re the one who is feeling sick to the stomach? If that’s the case, then nauseated is the word that you want. To be nauseated is to feel, become, or experience nausea.
I must have food poisoning from that restaurant. I feel nauseated.
In the strictest sense, certain grammar gurus will tell you that it is incorrect to say, “I feel nauseous,” though this usage is increasingly common. Language is inherently fluid and dynamic, changing all the time, so saying that you feel nauseous is becoming increasingly accepted.
Similar Word Pairs Are Confusing
When words have the same basic root and they have similar meanings, it can be very easy to confuse the two. Even if they are spelled completely differently but used within the same sphere, as would be the case with disinfectant and antiseptic, it is easy to mistakenly use one when you really mean to use the other.
Do you have a suggestion for a future Grammar 101 topic? Feel free to let me know through the comment form at the bottom of this post.
Well, my new shorter OEC defines “nauseous” as “Affected with nausea, sick, nauseated. Formerly also, inclined to nausea. ” and also as “Causing nausea; offensive to the taste or smell; fig. loathsome, disgusting, repulsive.” Both senses were first recorded in the early 17 century.
Sorry, it’s Shorter OED.
Oh my. My Collins, Merriam-Webster, and Longman are all against you. Is your definition of Canadianism?
It’s possible, but as I mentioned, language is a constantly fluid and evolving thing. Perhaps there is a greater general acceptance of saying, “I feel nauseous” than I had realized.
My Merriam-Webster English Usage Dictionary devotes more than two pages to “nauseous, nauseating, and nauseated”. At the end of the entry, it gives a conclusion:
At present, nauseous is most often often used as a predicate adjective meaning “nauseated” literrally; it has some figurative use as well. Usage writers decry these developments of the last 40 years, but they are now standard in general prose. The older sense of nauseous meaning nauseating, both literally and fuguratively, seems to be in decline, being replaced by nauseating. Nauseated is usually literal, but is less common than nauseous. Any handbook that tells you that nauseous cannot mean nauseated is out of touch with the comtemporary language. In current use it seldom means anything else.
So, very obviously, your idea of the distinction doesn’t fit the patterns the Usage Dictionary describes. Maybe the distinction truly only exists in Canada or your part of the country or community.
@AOA, I will say that I have heard it both ways. Being 51 years old and having lived in PA., NJ., CT., VA., NC., TN. and FL. in all those years I’ve heard nauseated more after the person has gotten better and is using it in the past tense. Nauseous more often present tense when someone is currently feeling ill. From Dictionary.com which tends toward that thought:
The two literal senses of nauseous, “causing nausea” (a nauseous smell) and “affected with nausea” (to feel nauseous), appear in English at almost the same time in the early 17th century, and both senses are in standard use at the present time. Nauseous is more common than nauseated in the sense “affected with nausea,” despite recent objections by those who imagine the sense to be new.
Thanks for a nice blog post. It was a nice ground to up post with good example.