nervous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: nerv=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

nervous, a. [L. nervosus sinewy, vigorous: cf. F. nerveux. See Nerve.].

•  Possessing nerve; sinewy; strong; vigorous.  Pope.  [1913 Webster]
•  Possessing or manifesting vigor of mind; characterized by strength in sentiment or style; forcible; spirited; as, a nervous writer.  [1913 Webster]
•  Of or pertaining to the nerves; seated in the nerves; as, nervous excitement; a nervous fever.  [1913 Webster]
•  Having the nerves weak, diseased, or easily excited; subject to, or suffering from, undue excitement of the nerves; easily agitated or annoyed.  [1913 Webster]

  "Poor, weak, nervous creatures."  [1913 Webster]
•  Sensitive; excitable; timid.  [1913 Webster]
•  Apprehensive; as, a child nervous about his mother's reaction to his bad report card.  [PJC]

  "Our aristocratic class does not firmly protest against the unfair treatment of Irish Catholics, because it is nervous about the land."  [1913 Webster]

Nervous fever (Med.), a low form of fever characterized by great disturbance of the nervous system, as evinced by delirium, or stupor, disordered sensibility, etc. -- Nervous system (Anat.), the specialized coördinating apparatus which endows animals with sensation and volition. In vertebrates it is often divided into three systems: the central, brain and spinal cord; the peripheral, cranial and spinal nerves; and the sympathetic. See Brain, Nerve, Spinal cord, under Spinal, and Sympathetic system, under Sympathetic, and Illust. in Appendix. -- Nervous temperament, a condition of body characterized by a general predominance of mental manifestations. Mayne.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

nervous, adj.
1 having delicate or disordered nerves.
2 timid or anxious.
3 a excitable; highly strung; easily agitated. b resulting from this temperament (nervous tension; a nervous headache).
4 affecting or acting on the nerves.
5 (foll. by of + verbal noun) reluctant, afraid (am nervous of meeting them).

Idiom

nervous breakdown a period of mental illness, usu. resulting from severe depression or anxiety. nervous system the body's network of specialized cells which transmit nerve impulses between parts of the body (cf. central nervous system, peripheral nervous system). nervous wreck colloq. a person suffering from mental stress, exhaustion, etc.

Derivative

nervously adv. nervousness n.

Etymology

ME f. L nervosus (as NERVE)

THESAURUS

nervous

acid, agitable, agitated, all nerves, all-overish, allergic, anaphylactic, anxious, anxioused up, apprehensive, bashful, biting, bothered, concerned, corrosive, cowardly, critical, cutting, delicate, difficult, diffident, discomposed, disquieted, distressed, disturbed, driving, edgy, effective, emotional, emotionally unstable, empathetic, empathic, eruptive, excitable, excited, explosive, fearful, fearing, fearsome, feverish, fidgety, flurried, flustered, forceful, forcible, foreboding, fretful, frightened, goosey, goosy, gutsy, high-mettled, high-spirited, high-strung, highly emotional, hyperesthetic, hyperpathic, hypersensitive, imperative, impressive, in a dither, in a pucker, in a stew, in a sweat, in a tizzy, in fear, incisive, inflammable, irascible, irritable, itchy, jittery, jumpy, mettlesome, misgiving, mordant, mousy, nerval, nerves on edge, nervy, neural, neurological, on edge, on tenterhooks, overanxious, overapprehensive, overrefined, oversensible, oversensitive, overstrung, overtender, panicky, passible, penetrating, perturbable, perturbed, piercing, poignant, powerful, prickly, punchy, querulous, rabbity, refined, responsive, restless, ruffled, scared, scary, sensational, sensitive, shaken, shaken up, shaky, shivery, shrinking, shy, sinewed, sinewy, skittery, skittish, slashing, snappish, solicitous, spooky, startlish, stirred up, strained, striking, strong, strung out, supersensitive, suspenseful, sympathetic, tactful, telling, tender, tense, tetchy, thin-skinned, ticklish, timid, timorous, touchy, trembling, tremulous, trenchant, trepidant, trigger-happy, troubled, troublous, turbulent, twittery, uneasy, unpeaceful, unquiet, unrestful, upset, uptight, vigorous, vital, volatile, volcanic, waspish, worked up, worried, wrought up, zealous

ROGET THESAURUS

nervous

Vigor

N vigor, power, force, boldness, raciness, intellectual, force, spirit, point, antithesis, piquance, piquancy, verve, glow, fire, warmth, strong language, gravity, sententiousness, elevation, loftiness, sublimity, eloquence, command of words, command of language, vigorous, nervous, powerful, forcible, trenchant, incisive, impressive, sensational, spirited, lively, glowing, sparkling, racy, bold, slashing, pungent, piquant, full of point, pointed, pithy, antithetical, sententious, lofty, elevated, sublime, eloquent, vehement, petulant, impassioned, poetic, in glowing terms, in good set terms, in no measured terms, thoughts that breath and words that burn.

Weakness

N weakness, debility, atony, relaxation, languor, enervation, impotence, infirmity, effeminacy, feminality, fragility, flaccidity, inactivity, anaemia, bloodlessness, deficiency of blood, poverty of blood, declension of strength, loss of strength, failure of strength, delicacy, invalidation, decrepitude, asthenia, adynamy, cachexy, cachexia, sprain, strain, reed, thread, rope of sand, house of cards, softling, weakling, infant, youth, weak, feeble, debile, impotent, relaxed, unnerved sapless, strengthless, powerless, weakly, unstrung, flaccid, adynamic, asthenic, nervous, soft, effeminate, feminate, womanly, frail, fragile, shattery, flimsy, unsubstantial, insubstantial, gimcrack, gingerbread, rickety, creaky, creaking, cranky, craichy, drooping, tottering, broken, lame, withered, shattered, shaken, crazy, shaky, palsied, decrepit, languid, poor, infirm, faint, faintish, sickly, dull, slack, evanid, spent, short-winded, effete, weather-beaten, decayed, rotten, worn, seedy, languishing, wasted, washy, laid low, pulled down, the worse for wear, unstrengthened, unsupported, unaided, unassisted, aidless, defenseless, cantilevered (support), on its last legs, weak as a child, weak as a baby, weak as a chicken, weak as a cat, weak as a rat, weak as water, weak as water gruel, weak as gingerbread, weak as milk and water, colorless, non sum qualis eram.

Fear

N fear, timidity, diffidence, want of confidence, apprehensiveness, fearfulness, solicitude, anxiety, care, apprehension, misgiving, feeze, mistrust, suspicion, qualm, hesitation, nervousness, restlessness, inquietude, disquietude, worry, concern, batophobia, heartquake, flutter, trepidation, fear and trembling, perturbation, tremor, quivering, shaking, trembling, throbbing heart, palpitation, ague fit, cold sweat, abject fear, mortal funk, heartsinking, despondency, despair, fright, affright, affrightment, boof alarm, dread, awe, terror, horror, dismay, consternation, panic, scare, stampede (of horses), intimidation, terrorism, reign of terror, bug bear, bugaboo, scarecrow, hobgoblin, nightmare, Gorgon, mormo, ogre, Hurlothrumbo, raw head and bloody bones, fee-faw-fum, bete noire, enfant terrible, alarmist, fearing, frightened, in fear, in a fright, haunted with the fear of, afeard, afraid, fearful, timid, timorous, nervous, diffident, coy, faint- hearted, tremulous, shaky, afraid of one's shadow, apprehensive, restless, fidgety, more frightened than hurt, aghast, awe-stricken, horror-stricken, terror-stricken, panic- stricken, awestruck, awe-stricken, horror-struck, frightened to death, white as a sheet, pale, pale as a ghost, pale as death, pale as ashes, breathless, in hysterics, inspiring fear, alarming, formidable, redoubtable, perilous, portentous, fearful, dread, dreadful, fell, dire, direful, shocking, terrible, terrific, tremendous, horrid, horrible, horrific, ghastly, awful, awe-inspiring, revolting, Gorgonian, in terrorem, Int, angels and ministers of grace defend us!, ante tubam trepidat, horresco referens, one's heart failing one, obstupui steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit, a dagger of the mind, expertus metuit, fain would I climb but that I fear to fall, fear is the parent of cruelty, Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire, omnia tuta timens, our fears do make us traitors.

Modesty

N modesty, humility, diffidence, timidity, retiring disposition, unobtrusiveness, bashfulness, mauvaise honte, blush, blushing, verecundity, self-knowledge, reserve, constraint, demureness, blushing honors, modest, diffident, humble, timid, timorous, bashful, shy, nervous, skittish, coy, sheepish, shamefaced, blushing, overmodest, unpretending, unpretentious, unobtrusive, unassuming, unostentatious, unboastful, unaspiring, poor in spirit, out of countenance, reserved, constrained, demure, humbly, quietly, privately, without ceremony, without beat of drum, sans fa, not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty, thy modesty's a candle to thy merit.