thin-skinned.

1. Easily upset or offended by criticism or slight insults.

2. Having a thin outer layer of skin or rind.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a thin-skinned response
• a thin-skinned leader

On the page

The thin-skinned director treated every question as a personal attack.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more thin-skinned; superlative most thin-skinned when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description, character. Commonness: moderately common.