Link Centre Dictionary

nervous

ner·vous

UK/ˈnɜːvəs/ US/ˈnəːvəs/ common

adjective

1.

easily agitated

  • “quick nervous movements”
Similar
2.

causing or fraught with or showing anxiety

  • “spent an anxious night waiting for the test results”
  • “cast anxious glances behind her”
  • “those nervous moments before takeoff”
  • “an unquiet mind”
Synonyms
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3.

of or relating to the nervous system

  • “nervous disease”
  • “neural disorder”
Synonyms
4.

excited in anticipation

Synonyms
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5.

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • as nervous as a witch
  • autonomic nervous system
  • central nervous system
  • enteric nervous system
  • 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

Related words

Word family

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.