Nervous Definition and Examples

Meaning of Nervous: A state that is felt internally characterizing heightened excitement or apprehension. It is usually felt in the midst of uncertainty or fear. It is a precursor to full-blown fear response and anxiety.

Examples:

• “With the exams approaching and his desire to do well, he was becoming increasingly nervous.”
• “It is natural to be nervous when faced with a situation that demands success but has a high risk of failure.”
• “Suddenly not know what course to take such a life, nervous, sensitive and busy.”

Other Words for “Nervous”

Widely-used synonyms for “nervous”. 

• Tense
• Uneasy
• Shaky
• Jittery
• Agitated
• Edgy
• Uptight
• Jumpy
• Apprehensive
• Fidget
• Upset
• Flustere
• Perturbed
• Trembling

Big list of 95+ different words to use instead of “nervous”.

• Aflutter
• Afraid
• Agitated
• Alarmed
• Angry
• Annoyed
• Antsy
• Apprehensive
• Bashful
• Bothered
• Cautious
• Concerned
• Cowardly
• Diffident
• Discomposed
• Disconcerted
• Disquieted
• Distracted
• Distraught
• Distressed
• Disturbed
• Edgy
• Embarrassed
• Emotional
• Excitable
• Excited
• Fearful
• Feverish
• Fidgety
• Flustered
• Frantic
• Fretful
• Frightened
• Hesitant
• Highly-strung
• High-strung
• Hyper
• Hysterical
• Ill at ease
• In a tizzy
• Insecure
• Intense
• Irritable
• Jittery
• Jumpy
• Keyed up
• Modest
• Nerve
• Nervy
• Neural
• Neurotic
• Overwrought
• Panicky
• Perturbed
• Previous
• Queasy
• Querulous
• Restive
• Restless
• Retiring
• Ruffled
• Scared
• Self-conscious
• Sensitive
• Shaken
• Shaky
• Shrinking
• Shy
• Skittish
• Solicitous
• Spooky
• Stirred
• Strained
• Stressed
• Stressed out
• Tense
• Testy
• Timid
• Timorous
• Touchy
• Tremulous
• Troubled
• Twitchy
• Uncertain
• Uncomfortable
• Uneasy
• Unnerved
• Unquiet
• Unstable
• Unstrung
• Unsure
• Upset
• Uptight
• Volatile
• Weak
• Worked up
• Worried
• Wrought up

“Nervous” Synonyms with Examples

Tense

• For instance: He’s a very tense person.

Uneasy

• For instance: His presence made her feel uneasy.

Shaky

• For instance: Her voice sounded shaky on the phone.

Jittery

• For instance: I felt jittery before going on stage.

Agitated

• For instance: Calm down! Don’t get so agitated.

Edgy

• For instance: She’s always been an edgy type of person.

Uptight

• For instance: Relax! You’re getting too uptight about it.

Jumpy

• For instance: Jim seemed a bit jumpy.

Apprehensive

• For instance: She was deeply apprehensive about her future.

Fidget

• For instance: You get fidgety if you’ve nothing to do.

Upset

• For instance: He was too upset to be rational.

Flustere

• For instance: She arrived late, looking hot and flustered.

Perturbed

• For instance: William looked a little perturbed.

Trembling

• For instance: She dimly realized that she was trembling.

More interesting examples with the word “nervous”

• “They suffered from nervous tension when the signal was shown on a radarscope.”
• “Balloons make me nervous – I hate it when they burst.”
• “She felt nervous, increasingly lacking in confidence about herself.”
• “You can tell how nervous she is by the way her fingers worry at the edge of the tablecloth.”
• “Parkinson’s disease is a debilitating and incurable disease of the nervous system.”
• “These events left her on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.”
• “His wife would not be able to cope and might suffer a nervous breakdown.”
• “She was so nervous about her exams that she couldn’t sleep.”
• “Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.”