| / English Dictionary |
NERVOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Unpredictably excitable (especially of horses)
Synonyms:
flighty; nervous; skittish; spooky
Classified under:
Similar:
excitable (easily excited)
Derivation:
nervousness (a sensitive or highly strung temperament)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Excited in anticipation
Synonyms:
aflutter; nervous
Classified under:
Similar:
excited (in an aroused state)
Derivation:
nervousness (the anxious feeling you have when you have the jitters)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Easily agitated
Example:
a nervous thoroughbred
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
tense (in or of a state of physical or nervous tension)
Derivation:
nervousness (a sensitive or highly strung temperament)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Causing or fraught with or showing anxiety
Example:
an unquiet mind
Synonyms:
anxious; nervous; queasy; uneasy; unquiet
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
troubled (characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need)
Derivation:
nervousness (the anxious feeling you have when you have the jitters)
nervousness (an uneasy psychological state)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Of or relating to the nervous system
Example:
neural disorder
Synonyms:
nervous; neural
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
nervous system (the sensory and control apparatus consisting of a network of nerve cells)
Derivation:
nerve (any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body)
Context examples:
These were distinct nervous shocks, and their effect was not good on her.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
From there they constrict the linings of the blood vessels and the nervous system, and raise blood pressure.
(Air Pollution Can Trigger Glaucoma, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
Unlike humans, octopuses have multiple brains rather than just one central nervous system.
(Octopuses can dream, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
MS is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that disrupts communication between the brain and other parts of the body.
(Vitamin D Levels Predict Multiple Sclerosis Progression, NIH)
Despite these differences, the patients’ nervous systems appeared to be developing normally.
(“Sixth sense” may be more than just a feeling, NIH)
The other gene family, zinc-finger transcription factors, play a role in nervous system function and development.
(First-ever octopus genome sequenced, NSF)
Opioids, such as morphine, are often used to treat pain from a nervous system injury.
(Opioid Pain Relievers May Prolong Pain, NIH)
An acute infectious disorder that affects the nervous system.
(Acute Poliomyelitis, NCI Thesaurus)
Who should it be but the pale-faced, bearded man, who seemed himself in so nervous a state?
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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