nervous
Syllables: nerv·ousUK/ˈnɜːvəs/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈnəːvəs/
nervous adjective: full of sinews.
Adjective
nervous (comparative more nervous or (nonstandard) nervouser, superlative most nervous or (nonstandard) nervousest)
- Full of sinews.
- Having strong or prominent sinews; sinewy, muscular.
- [T]here is nothing in marble equal to the Venus of Medici, for ſoftneſs and tenderneſs; as there is nothing ſo ſtrong and nervous, as the Hercules Farneſe.1747, [Joseph] Spence, “Dial[ogue] VIII”, in Polymetis […] , London: R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 83
- Of a piece of writing, literary style etc.: forceful, powerful.
- Fortescutus illustratus, or a commentary on that nervous treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ […] [book title]1663, Edward Waterhous, Fortescutus Illustratus […], London: Tho. Roycroft for Thomas Dicas […], →OCLC, title page
- Nervous, clear, and striking, was almost all that he uttered […].1788, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 264
- Supplied with nerves; innervated.
- Affecting or involving the nerves or nervous system.
- All Nervous Diſtempers whatſoever, from Yawning and Stretching, up to a mortal Fit of an Apoplexy, ſeems to me to be but one continued Diſorder, or the ſeveral Steps or Degrees of it, ariſing from a Relaxation or Weakneſs, and the want of a ſufficient Force and Elaſticity in the Solids in general...1733, George Cheyne, “Of the General Division of Nervous Distempers”, in The English Malady […] […], London: G[eorge] Strahan […]; Bath, Somerset: J[ames] Leake, →OCLC, part I, pages 14–15
- Elizabeth Moſs, a girl of about 15 years of age, was attacked, in December, 1773, with a ſlow nervous fever, during the courſe of which ſhe had very little ſleep; […]1774 September, “48. Medical Memoirs of the General Dispensary in London: For Part of the Years 1773 and 1774. By John Coakley Lettsom, M.D. F.R.S. and A.S.S. and Physician to the General Dispensary....
- Nervose.
- CANNACORUS, […] It hath a knobbed tuberoſe Root: The Leaves are long and nervous: […]1733, Philip Miller, “CANNACORUS”, in The Gardeners Dictionary: […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, column 1
- Easily agitated or alarmed; edgy, on edge.
- Being in a crowd of strangers makes me nervous.
- I can only assure you here that there is such a thing as a nervous child; whose nervous system is unstable; who is easily upset; whose pulse is apt to "run away" at any excitement; who blushes and pales and sweats easily; who tires easily; and who may be subject to headache and eye strain.1928 November, Norman B. Cole, “Present Day Opinion Regarding the Relationship between Athletics and the Heart”, in James Huff McCurdy, editor, American Physical Education Review, volume XXXIII...
- Synonyms:
- excitable, high-strung, hypersensitive
- Apprehensive, anxious, hesitant, worried.
- They were looking at the table (which was spread out in great array); for these young housekeepers are always nervous on such points, and like to see that everything is right.1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 161
- Various harbours fit to receive settlers are now enumerated by the author; and as for the cold, of which some, through report, entertained a nervous dread, he invites his readers to reflect on "the great colde that is at times in Muſcouia, Sweidon, Norway, Spruceland, Poland, Denmarke, and other...1870, Richard Whitbourne, “A Relation of the New-found-land, with a More Ample Discouery of that Countrey, […]”, in T. Whitburn, editor, Westward Hoe for Avalon in the New-found-land: As described by...
nervous meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
nervous in Hindi
- relating to the nerves
- तंत्रिकीय tantrikīya
nervous in Urdu
- nervous
- بد حواس bad havās
nervous in Bengali
- স্নায়বিক, পেশল, কর্মঠ, তেজস্বী, বলিষ্ঠ, ধামনিক
nervous in Malayalam
- എളുപ്പത്തിൽ പേടിക്കുന്ന, നാഡികളെ ബാധിക്കുന്ന, വികാരവിവശനാകുന്ന, ധൈര്യമില്ലാത്ത
More languagesFewer languages
- nervous in Kannada
- ನರದ, ನರಗಳ, ನರಗಳಿಂದಾದ, ನರಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೆಲಸಮಾಡುವ
- nervous in Arabic
- عَصَبِيّ ʕaṣabiyy
- nervous in Vietnamese
- hồi hộp
Examples of nervous in a sentence
- However, concern regarding potential morbidity from biopsy of a central nervous system lesion makes it rare to have a pathologic specimen available for clinical diagnosis.2011, Nancy L. Kuntz, Jonathan Strober, “Differential Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and Acquired Central Nervous System Demyelinating...
- She won't go to strangers, and I am a nervous wreck taking care of her."1915, Cecilia Farwell, “The Nervous Child”, in The Child Welfare Manual […], volume 1, New York, N.Y.: The University Society, →OCLC, page...
Synonyms of nervous
- excitable
- high-strung
- hypersensitive
- angstful
- apprehensive
- anxious
- concerned
- distraught
- disturbed
- edgy
22 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of nervous
| comparative | more nervous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most nervous |
| comparative (nonstandard) | nervouser |
| superlative (nonstandard) | nervousest |
Origin of nervous
From Middle English nervous (“composed of or incorporating nerves”), from Latin nervōsus (“nervous; sinewy; energetic, vigorous”), from nervus (“nerve; muscle; sinew, tendon; (figuratively) energy, power; nerve; force, strength, vigour”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (“sinew, tendon”)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). The English word is analysable as nerve + -ous.
Words formed from nervous
- as nervous as a witch
- autonomic nervous system
- central nervous system
- electronervous
- enteric nervous system
- internervous
- nervcited
- nervicited
- nervited
- nervous as a cat
- nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs
- nervous as a whore in church
- nervous breakdown
- nervous energy
- nervous hit
- nervously
- nervous-Nellie
- nervous nellie
- nervous nelly
- nervous-Nelly
- nervousness
- nervous nineties
- nervous pudding
- nervous Purvis
- nervous tissue
- nervous wreck
- nonnervous
- overnervous
- parasympathetic nervous system
- perinervous
- peripheral nervous system
- seminervous
- somatic nervous system
- sympathetic nervous system
- unnervous
- vasculonervous
- vegetative nervous system
Phrases with nervous
Questions about nervous
- What does nervous mean?
- Nervous means full of sinews.
- What is nervous in Hindi?
- Nervous in Hindi is तंत्रिकीय (tantrikīya). See Nervous meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use nervous in a sentence?
- However, concern regarding potential morbidity from biopsy of a central nervous system lesion makes it rare to have a pathologic specimen available for clinical diagnosis.
- What part of speech is nervous?
- Nervous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce nervous?
- Nervous is pronounced /ˈnɜːvəs/ (UK).
Words near nervous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nervous (page history and authors); بد حواس (Urdu) (page history and authors); nervous (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nervous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nervous (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-nervous.ogg, en-au-nervous.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nervous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nervous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.