nervous Hear it!

nervous Definition

nerv·ous (nʉr′vəs)

adjective

  1. Obsolete strong; sinewy
  2. vigorous in expression; animated
  3. of the nerves
  4. made up of or containing nerves
  5. characterized by or having a disordered state of the nerves
  6. characterized by or showing emotional tension, restlessness, agitation, etc.
  7. fearful; apprehensive

Etymology: ME neruous < L nervosus

nervous Related Forms
nerv′·ously adverb nerv′·ous·ness noun or ner·vos′·ity-väs′ə tē
nervous Synonyms

nervous

modif.

  1. Excitable

    sensitive, high-strung, neurotic; see excitable.

  2. Excited

    agitated, bothered, annoyed; see excited.

  3. Timid

    apprehensive, shy, worried; see afraid 1, timid 2.

nervous Usage Examples

Preposition: about

  • prospect: In fact I was feeling quite nervous about the prospect of taking my eight-month-old daughter Maisie to her first music festival.

Preposition: at

  • prospect: I am a bit nervous at the prospect of facing unaided such a large assembly.
  • beginning: Naturally I was very nervous at the beginning but the teaching from the instructors on each level helped you to conquer those feelings.

Preposition: as

  • hell: We were nervous as hell but managed to play all our songs twice to fill out an hour.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • feel: I was feeling a bit nervous about going kayaking in case I tipped over.

Modifies a noun

  • breakdown: Then her eldest daughter Angel has suffered a nervous breakdown, the true cause of which Angel has confided only to Kath Arnold.
  • disposition: Those of a nervous disposition shouldn't click here.
  • wreck: I'm a nervous wreck by the time I finish the trip.
  • system: The vapor attacks the central nervous system, which is why painting can give you a headache.
  • exhaustion: Men are being evacuated in considerable numbers in a state of nervous exhaustion.
  • tension: I suffered a lot of nervous tension at the back of my head, with slight paranoia.

Modifying Another Word

  • understandably: Staff from both services are understandably nervous about the future.
  • slightly: New Year 7s cause chaos A BRAND NEW GANG OF YEAR 7s burst into Grange Hill, all slightly nervous on their induction day.
  • incredibly: Naturally we were incredibly nervous, feeling that his visit could make or break us.
  • decidedly: I was decidedly nervous, squirming in my chair while the head went through the statement we had prepared.

Used with adjective complement

  • feel: Would you feel nervous waking up each morning to find a police car outside your house?
  • appear: Pattern of how equality in this appears nervous that.
  • seem: Was he behaving strange or did he seem nervous about anything?
  • get: Yes, I get rather nervous around large spiders.
  • look: Any farmer reliant on my advice for the health of his potatoes would be well justified in looking nervous.
nervous Quotes

   In my systematic explorations through the realms of microscopic anatomy, there came the turn of the nervous system, that masterpiece of life.

—Ramo¤  n y Cajal, Santiago

The status of 'native' is a nervous condition introduced and maintained by the settler among colonized people with their consent.

—Sartre,Jean-Paul

In fact we do not try to picture the afterlife, nor is it our selves in our nervous tics and optical flecks that we wish to perpetuate; it is the self as the window on the world that we can't bear to thinkof shutting.

—Updike,John Hoyer

My advice to people today is as follows: If you take the game of life seriously, if you take your nervous system seriously, if you take your sense organs seriously, if you takethe energy processseriously, you must turn on, tune in, and drop out.

—Leary,Timothy Francis