Thesaurus
nervous
adjective
Synonyms and Antonyms of NERVOUS
1
feeling or showing uncomfortable feelings of uncertainty <he was nervous about how he would do at the varsity basketball tryouts>
Synonyms aflutter, antsy, anxious, atwitter, dithery, edgy, goosey, het up, hinky [slang], hung up, ill at ease, insecure, jittery, jumpy, nervy, perturbed, queasy (also queazy), tense, troubled, uneasy, unquiet, upset, uptight, worried
Related Words aggrieved, bothered, concerned, disquieted, distraught, distressed, disturbed, freaked, freaked-out, shook-up; apprehensive, foreboding, hesitant, misgiving; fretful, fretting, stewing, vexed; qualmish, qualmy; flustered, twittered, undone, unnerved, unstrung; obsessed, preoccupied, restless; fidgety, flighty, fluttery, high-strung, hypertense, skittish, spooky
Phrases keyed up, on edge, on pins and needles, on tenterhooks
2
marked by or causing agitation or uncomfortable feelings <a nervous silence filled the room as the teacher handed out the graded exams>
Synonyms agitating, anxious, creepy, disquieting, distressful, distressing, disturbing, fraught, hairy, nail-biting, nerve-racking (or nerve-wracking), restless, tense, uneasy, unnerving, unsettling, worrisome
Related Words bothersome, troublesome; foreboding, misgiving; discouraging, disheartening, strained; restive, restless, unrestful; awkward, embarrassing
3
easily excited by nature <a nervous sort of person, she's completely thrown by anything unexpected>
Synonyms fiddle-footed, flighty, fluttery, high-strung, hyper, hyperactive, hyperexcitable, hyperkinetic, jittery, jumpy, nervous, skittery, skittish, spasmodic, spooky
Related Words hot-blooded, mercurial, temperamental, unstable, volatile, volcanic; anxious, edgy, flibbertigibbety, nervy, tense, uptight; emotional, emotionalistic, hypersensitive, intense, sensitive, soulful; dramatic, histrionic, melodramatic; irascible, irritable, perturbable, prickly, testy, touchy
Seen & Heard
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