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Meaning of nervous in English

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˈnərvəs/

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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 »

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