Word.ws English Dictionary

unnerved

unnerved is the simple past and past participle of unnerve.

Meaning of unnerve

Verb

unnerve (third-person singular simple present unnerves, present participle unnerving, simple past and past participle unnerved)

  1. To deprive of nerve, force, or strength; to weaken; to enfeeble. Compare enervate.
    • to unnerve the arm
  2. To make somebody nervous, upset, alarm, shake the resolve of.
    • I was greatly unnerved by the news that my attacker was back in the country.

Adjective

unnerved (comparative more unnerved, superlative most unnerved)

  1. Deprived of courage, strength, confidence, self-control, etc.
    • `Surely he dieth even now.' `True,' she said, with a start. `Oh, why did I not come before! I am unnerved - my hand trembles, even mine - and yet it is very easy.'1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
    • […]Wrapped in around itself and self-befriended,
      His science needn't get him so unnerved.
      He had been too all out , too much extended .
      He slapped his breast to verify his purse
      And hugged himself for all his universe . […]1995 October, Robert Frost, Richard Poirier, Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays (LOA #81) (DE-601)374069697: Library of America series), Library of America, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 360

Forms of unnerved

comparativemore unnerved
superlativemost unnerved

Words formed from unnerved

Questions about unnerved

What does unnerved mean?
Unnerved means deprived of courage, strength, confidence, self-control, etc.
What is unnerved the simple past and past participle of?
Unnerved is the simple past and past participle of unnerve.
What part of speech is unnerved?
Unnerved is an adjective.

Words near unnerved in the dictionary

  1. unnerstanding
  2. unnerstands
  3. unnerstood
  4. unnervate
  5. unnerve
  6. unnerved
  7. unnervedly
  8. unnervedness
  9. unnerver
  10. unnervers
  11. unnerves

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unnerved (page history and authors); unnerve (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: “unnerved.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unnerved. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.