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Script: Ad Nauseam Idiom Meaning: Ad nauseam means continuing for an excessive period of time until people are tired of it; to ridiculous excess or a sickening degree. Usage of Idiom: Ad nauseam is most often used about a particular subject that is being discussed. Examples Of Use: “He’s talked about Jenny ad nauseam ever since they had a date. I wish he’d shut up about her already.“ “We hear about the need for bipartisan cooperation ad nauseam in Washington but it never seems to actually happen on a large scale.“ “This self-help guru went on and on, ad nauseam, about the power of the inner eye without once saying anything that made sense.“ Origin of Idiom: Used since the early 1600s. This idiom is a Latin term meaning to [the point of] nausea. It is one of many such Latin terms used in English, such as ad hoc or ad infinitum. Latin, of course, also brought us the term nausea, which is a feeling of being sick to your stomach so that you feel like you need to vomit. When we have nausea we say we are nauseous. To be nauseous, then, means to have nausea, or to be sick to your stomach so that you feel like you are going to vomit. The two similar words nauseous and nauseated can be confusing even to native speakers. They have slightly different meanings but they tend to be used interchangeably. As mentioned, to be nauseous means to feel like you are going to vomit. However, something, such a smell, can also be nauseous, meaning it causes one to vomit or feel like vomiting. A nauseous smell makes us nauseous. While one may feel nauseous, something else nauseates us. To understand the difference just remember that nauseate will take a subject or be followed by the word by as in ’the horrible smell nauseated her’ or ’she was nauseated by the horrible smell.’ As before, a nauseous smell nauseates us. To be nauseated by something is often used, also, to mean filled with revulsion or disgust.
