Word.ws English Dictionary

hit a nerve

hit a nerve is the alternative form of touch a nerve.

Meaning of touch a nerve

Verb

touch a nerve (third-person singular simple present touches a nerve, present participle touching a nerve, simple past and past participle touched a nerve)

  1. (idiomatic) To make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response, especially an emotional response such as anxiety or annoyance, because it calls to mind something which has been a source of concern or embarrassment.
    • Louis B. Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland Press, . . . banged out an editorial that raised uncomfortable questions about the state of the U.S. at a moment of world responsibility. His piece touched a nerve: in the following week, 1,000 people had tried to reach him by phone or written him letters...1951 August 27, “National Affairs: Right & Wrong”, in TIME, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2010

Forms of hit a nerve

third-person singular presenthits a nerve
present participlehitting a nerve
past participlehit a nerve
pasthit a nerve

Questions about hit a nerve

What is hit a nerve the alternative form of?
Hit a nerve is the alternative form of touch a nerve.

Words near hit a nerve in the dictionary

  1. hit a brick wall
  2. hit a clip
  3. hit a false note
  4. hit a home run
  5. hit a lick
  6. hit a nerve
  7. hit a raw nerve
  8. hit a six
  9. hit a snag
  10. hit a stain
  11. hit a wall

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hit a nerve (page history and authors); touch a nerve (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “hit a nerve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hit_a_nerve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.