How to Use nerve-racking in a Sentence
nerve-racking
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The next few weeks will prove nerve-racking yet crucial.
—Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
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That was honestly the most nerve-racking thing.
—Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 25 Dec. 2025
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All three series are some of the most nerve-racking shows on television.
—Michael Schneider, Variety, 15 May 2023
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Choosing whether and where to buy a home is nerve-racking even if your only concern is your wallet.
—Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 30 Mar. 2023
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So yes, just another nerve-racking day in the neighborhood for our fair chefs.
—Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 27 June 2024
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And the prospect of shaving it off was nerve-racking for the actress ,who also had to do it on camera.
—Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 24 Oct. 2024
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Getting used to the bare-bones shoot took time, but the nerve-racking encounters started on day one.
—Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 15 Jan. 2025
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Hoop Dreams has some nerve-racking sports scenes — has a free throw ever been more momentous?
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2024
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That’s the nerve-racking part of this (World Cup); the watching, the waiting.
—Michael Silver, New York Times, 23 June 2026
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Or maybe a nerve-racking thing, depending on your perspective.
—Envelope Staff, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2024
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Transferring precious jewels is a nerve-racking, high-stakes game.
—Ari Stark, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
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My first day at Friends, in July 2000, was a nerve-racking blur.
—Time, 21 Aug. 2023
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Which makes getting out of the driveway a nerve-racking experience.
—Caleb Harris, Austin American Statesman, 20 Feb. 2026
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One of the most dangerous and nerve-racking parts of the Artemis II mission is still ahead.
—Tom Costello, NBC news, 10 Apr. 2026
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For The Times) The most nerve-racking job at the birthday party might be cutting the cake.
—Betty Hallock, Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2026
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The drone dropped back to earth — a nerve-racking moment, as the explosive was already triggered to detonate.
—Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 8 May 2023
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Investing during a presidential election year can be nerve-racking to say the least.
—Justin Kittle, Kansas City Star, 17 July 2024
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In the best-case scenario, what follows will be 13 minutes of nerve-racking tension—about half of which will be in radio blackout.
—Lee Billings, Scientific American, 9 Apr. 2026
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There were a lot of staff there on set from the global Calvin Klein team, which was also a little nerve-racking, but exciting.
—Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
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But the process was much more nerve-racking for Underwood, who was also coming out as bisexual at the same time as polyamorous.
—Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 27 Jan. 2026
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The two 21-year-olds escaped to Turkey and spent eight nerve-racking hours on a rubber boat in the Mediterranean.
—Erika Solomon, New York Times, 28 May 2023
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For missions headed to the moon’s surface, the two most nerve-racking moments are the rocket launch from Earth and the landing itself.
—Anton Troianovski, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2023
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Serious belly laughs and nerve-racking moments arrive in equal measure; tonally, there’s nothing quite like it.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2025
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Meeting the rapper, 44, in person proved to be a nerve-racking experience.
—Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
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Ballet recitals can be nerve-racking for little ballerinas, but this dad made sure his daughter's first performance went perfectly.
—Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 21 Dec. 2023
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For a nerve-racking month, Shady al-Hasoumy said, the family feared the worst for his 10-year-old nephew Yousef.
—Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2024
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For Riverside residents living in the surrounding area, the incident is nerve-racking and a little too close to home.
—Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 13 Jan. 2026
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Meanwhile, Greengrass heaps calamity upon calamity, mounting the fire with nerve-racking expertise.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
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The man, who narrowly avoided a severe bear attack, gets to leave the frightening incident with a nerve-racking animal encounter story to share with his friends.
—Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 26 Sep. 2025
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Making your Major League debut is nerve-racking enough, but doing so while trying to preserve a no-hitter is a different kind of pressure.
—Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 26 May 2026
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nerve-racking.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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