neurotic

1 of 2

adjective

neu·​rot·​ic nu̇-ˈrä-tik How to pronounce neurotic (audio)
nyu̇-
: of, relating to, constituting, or affected with neurosis (see neurosis)
neurotically adverb

neurotic

2 of 2

noun

1
: one affected with a neurosis (see neurosis)
2
: an emotionally unstable individual

Examples of neurotic in a Sentence

Adjective This most fastidious of pianists sounds anything but neurotic when he plays Mozart. Richard Coles, Times Literary Supplement, 15 Nov. 2002
Maybe it's because novelists don't talk much about each other. Maybe this is because novelists secrete a certain BO which only other novelists detect, like certain buzzards who emit a repellent pheromone detectable only by other buzzards, which is to say that only a novelist can know how neurotic, devious, underhanded a novelist can be. Walker Percy, "An Interview With Zoltán Abádi-Nagy," 1987, in Signposts in a Strange Land1991
In our own time, the most perfect examples of such biography … are the matchless case-histories of Freud. Freud here shows, with absolute clarity, that the on-going nature of neurotic illness and its treatment cannot be displayed except by biography. Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, (1973) 1990
The psychiatrist diagnosed the patient as neurotic. My neurotic mother scolded me for staying out 10 minutes past curfew. He is neurotic about his job. Noun More than any rebirth, one senses in the England of 1911 a civilization's unconscious death wish, vividly present in the author's glimpses of the poet Rupert Brooke, that squeaky-clean neurotic, a casualty waiting to happen. Thomas Mallon, New York Times Book Review, 27 May 2007
As a claustrophobe—perhaps the only kind of neurotic out of place in New York—I find nothing in the city more terrifying than a stalled subway car. John Tierney, New York Times Magazine, 19 Mar. 1995
You are too much something for a tubercular neurotic who can only be jealous and mean and perverse. F. Scott Fitzgerald, letter, 2 Dec. 1939
He was diagnosed as a neurotic. He is a neurotic about keeping his clothes neat.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
But the neurotic Bronx native soon became indispensable, always there to help out The Mary Tyler Moore Show's lead character with dating and dinner parties. Ew Staff Updated, EW.com, 6 Mar. 2024 According to experts, this forgoing of walks doesn’t only make neurotic dog guardians like myself feel guilty. Kelly Conaboy, Washington Post, 20 Feb. 2024 Born in New York, Lewis studied, and often drew comparisons to, Lenny Bruce for his riffing, neurotic crowd work. Elias Lopez, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2024 They were labeled neurotic, and often implicitly labeled homosexual — an accusation that couldn’t then be made overtly in entertainment but could definitely be winked at. Mark Harris Keita Morimoto, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2024 Dunham plays Ruth, a neurotic businesswoman who takes her father Edek (Fry), a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a road trip through Poland to make sense of her family’s past. Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Jan. 2024 The Jinx is a wild, serpentine investigation into the deadly drive of a neurotic real estate heir who is riddled with delusions but can’t avoid the truth. Eric Farwell, EW.com, 13 Dec. 2023 But Escola’s stellar, breakthrough performance came on the fourth season of HBO Max’s Search Party in 2021, playing Chip Wreck, a neurotic, obsessed fan who stalks and kidnaps Alia Shakwat’s Dory Sief. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 6 Feb. 2024 Memories resurface as tics, gestures, obsessions—the condensations of meaning that Freud called neurotic symptoms. Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 19 Dec. 2023
Noun
Stiller plays Roger Greenberg, a neurotic 40-something who is recovering from a nervous breakdown by crashing at his brother's Hollywood Hills home while his family is on vacation. Lia Beck, EW.com, 12 Jan. 2024 In her debut novel, Zaher draws a Venn diagram of the glamorously neurotic and the politically oppressed, then sets her protagonist spinning in that maddening little overlap. Vulture, 2 Jan. 2024 The book features a typically Hannah-esque collection of over-the-top neurotics, obsessives, fantasists and narcissists: feuding siblings, irrational parents, downtrodden in-laws. Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2023 My son says French films come in two types: the story of the poor and unhappy childhood, which plays as tragedy, and the story of the bourgeois neurotic, which plays as comedy. Alexander Sammon, Harper's Magazine, 25 June 2022 Fisher and Park are cute as two neurotics who are sweet on each other. Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Aug. 2023 Outgoing, funny, and athletic, he is described by those who knew him as the opposite of neurotic. Andy Kifer, New York Times, 11 July 2023 Rather, here in the New World, popularized versions of Freudian theory justified relinquishment: Young mothers were neurotics with pregnancy fantasies that stemmed from a confused sense of womanhood. Maria Laurino, The New Republic, 29 June 2023 After getting his start in television, Grodin graduated to both leading and character roles in motion pictures, usually portraying the exasperated urban neurotic. Carmel Dagan, chicagotribune.com, 18 May 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'neurotic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

neur(osis) + -otic entry 1

Noun

derivative of neurotic entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

1866, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1896, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of neurotic was in 1866

Dictionary Entries Near neurotic

Cite this Entry

“Neurotic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neurotic. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

neurotic

1 of 2 adjective
neu·​rot·​ic n(y)u̇-ˈrät-ik How to pronounce neurotic (audio)
: of, relating to, being, or affected with neurosis
neurotically adverb

neurotic

2 of 2 noun
1
: a person affected with a neurosis
2
: an emotionally unstable person

Medical Definition

neurotic

1 of 2 adjective
neu·​rot·​ic n(y)u̇-ˈrät-ik How to pronounce neurotic (audio)
1
a
: of, relating to, or involving the nerves
a neurotic disorder
b
: being a neurosis : nervous
a neurotic disease
2
: affected with, relating to, or characterized by neurosis
a neurotic person
neurotically adverb

neurotic

2 of 2 noun
1
: one affected with a neurosis
2
: an emotionally unstable individual
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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