# nervous

Pronunciation: say "NUR-vuhs" US /ˈnɝːvəs/, UK /ˈnɜːvəs/

## Adjective

1. Feeling apprehensive, anxious, or uneasy about something that might happen or go wrong.
   - Simple: Feeling worried or afraid about something that might happen.
   - _The nervous candidate fumbled her notes as the interview began._
   - _He grew more nervous as the deadline approached and the work piled up._
2. Easily agitated or alarmed; tense, edgy, and quick to react.
   - Simple: Easily scared or upset, and quick to react to small things.
   - _The nervous mare shied at every shadow along the trail._
   - _Years of stress had left her nervous and easily startled._
3. Of, relating to, or acting on the nerves and the system they form in the body.
   - Simple: Relating to the nerves or the body's nerve network.
   - _The doctor specializes in nervous disorders such as neuralgia._
   - _A blow to the head can damage nervous tissue and disrupt reflexes._
4. Supplied with nerves; having a network of nerve fibers distributed through the tissue.
   - Simple: Supplied with nerves, so the part can feel and send signals.
   - _The richly nervous tissue of the fingertips makes them highly sensitive to touch._
   - _Surgeons take care in nervous regions where dense fibers carry sensation._

## Adjective

5. Of writing or literary style, forceful, vigorous and powerful. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Used about writing or speech that is forceful and full of energy.
   - _Eighteenth-century critics admired Dryden's nervous prose, which drove each argument forward with unflagging force._
   - _The pamphlet's nervous style lent its arguments a vigor that calmer writing would have lacked._
6. Strong in sinew and muscle; brawny. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Strong and muscular, with firm, well-developed muscles.
7. Full of sinews; containing many tough fibrous strands. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Full of tough, stringy fibers, like the sinews in meat.
   - _The stew was spoiled by nervous meat full of tough white strands._
   - _He complained that the joint was nervous and stringy, scarcely fit to eat._
8. In botany, of a leaf or similar part: having prominent veins or nerves. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In plants, used about a leaf that has clear veins or lines running through it.
   - _The specimen's nervous leaves bore a series of prominent parallel veins._
   - _He labeled the fern frond as nervous, noting the strong ribs running its length._

## Origin

From Middle English nervous, from Latin nervōsus ("nervous; sinewy; vigorous"), from nervus ("nerve; sinew; strength") plus the suffix -ōsus meaning "full of." The English word can be seen as nerve + -ous.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/nervous (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).