Meaning of nervous in English

1. Pronunciation

   /ˈnərvəs/

   US accent

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   UK accent

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1. Classifying Adjective

   nervous

   Definitions

   1. easily agitated

   Examples

   • « quick nervous movements »

   Synonyms

   • tense
2. 2. causing or fraught with or showing anxiety

   Examples

   • « spent an anxious night waiting for the test results »
   • « cast anxious glances behind her »
   • « those nervous moments before takeoff »
   • « an unquiet mind »

   Synonyms

   • troubled
3. 3. excited in anticipation

   Synonyms

   • excited
4. 4. unpredictably excitable (especially of horses)

   Synonyms

   • excitable

5. Qualitative Adjective

   nervous

   Etymology

   late Middle English (in the senses ‘containing nerves’ and ‘relating to the nerves’): from Latin nervosus‘sinewy, vigorous’, from nervus‘sinew’ (see nerve). nervous (sense 1) dates from the mid 18th century

   Definitions

   1. of or relating to the nervous system

   Examples

   • « nervous disease »
   • « neural disorder »