Other forms: nauseating, nauseated
To nauseate somebody is to make them feel sick enough to be on the edge of vomiting. The smell in a hot car on a long journey.
The physical sense is medical and precise: a drug that nauseates the patient, a motion that nauseates almost everyone. The figurative sense is a strong statement of disgust — his hypocrisy nauseated her — and it is a good deal more forceful than saying you disliked something. The adjective nauseating is commoner than the verb and works both ways, covering a nauseating smell and a nauseating display of self-congratulation. The feeling itself is nausea.
Nausea is seasickness. Greek nausia came from naus, a ship, and Latin nauseō meant to feel sea sick, so every queasy feeling is named after a boat.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)neh₂-
Ancient Greek
ναυσία
Latin
nauseātus — nauseated
English, today
nauseate
Built from
From earlier nauseat, from Latin nauseātus (“nauseated”), perfect past participle of nauseō (“to feel sea sick, nauseate”) (see -ate), from nausea, from Ancient Greek ναυσία, from ναῦς, from Proto-Indo-European (s)neh₂-. by surface analysis, nausea + -ate.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA