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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective nervous contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of nervous are energetic, lusty, strenuous, and vigorous. While all these words mean "having or showing great vitality and force," nervous suggests especially the forcibleness and sustained effectiveness resulting from mental vigor.

full of nervous energy

When is energetic a more appropriate choice than nervous?

Although the words energetic and nervous have much in common, energetic suggests a capacity for intense activity.

an energetic campaigner

When might lusty be a better fit than nervous?

While in some cases nearly identical to nervous, lusty implies exuberant energy and capacity for enjoyment.

a lusty appetite for life

When is it sensible to use strenuous instead of nervous?

While the synonyms strenuous and nervous are close in meaning, strenuous suggests a preference for coping with the arduous or the challenging.

the strenuous life on an oil rig

When can vigorous be used instead of nervous?

The meanings of vigorous and nervous largely overlap; however, vigorous further implies showing no signs of depletion or diminishing of freshness or robustness.

as vigorous as a youth half his age

Examples of nervous in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Read more Auto giants are getting nervous about the prospect of mega fines as EV demand falters Car giants are being forced to confront some hard truths over the EV transition Stellantis is struggling. Sam Meredith, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2024 Balances are growing, and people haven’t been this nervous about keeping up with payments since the pandemic. Daniel Wine, CNN, 15 Oct. 2024 That happens when markets are nervous about the current environment. Jj Kinahan, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024 Perhaps, just do a thought experiment, if Trump wins the election, Hollywood companies were nervous about distributing this film while Trump is just a candidate. Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 10 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for nervous 

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

Thesaurus Entries Near nervous

Cite this Entry

“Nervous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nervous. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on nervous

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