TICKLISH

delicate, ticklish, touchy

(adjective) difficult to handle; requiring great tact; “delicate negotiations with the big powers”; “hesitates to be explicit on so ticklish a matter”; “a touchy subject”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

ticklish (comparative more ticklish, superlative most ticklish)

Sensitive or susceptible to being tickled.

Touchy, sensitive, or delicate.

Source: Wiktionary

Tic"klish, a.

1. Sensible to slight touches; easily tickled; as, the sole of the foot is very ticklish; the hardened palm of the hand is not ticklish. Bacon.

2. Standing so as to be liable to totter and fall at the slightest touch; unfixed; easily affected; unstable. Can any man with comfort lodge in a condition so dismally ticklish Barrow.

3. Difficult; nice; critical; as, a ticklish business. Surely princes had need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say. Bacon.

– Tic"klish*ly, adv.

– Tic"klish*ness, n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition