as in tense
marked by or causing agitation or uncomfortable feelings
for a couple of nail-biting moments we thought that we had actually won the mega lottery
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nail-biting
Adjective
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But recently, her videos detailing her tense, hours-long encounter with Customs at MIA went viral.—
Amanda Rosa,
Miami Herald,
4 June 2025 -
While the two countries have announced a temporary truce that rolled back the three-digit tariffs for 90 days, relations remain tense with ongoing feuding over chip restrictions imposed by the US.—
John Liu,
CNN Money,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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Some are bigger than others: economic uncertainty, changing customer behaviors, personal isolation, leadership burnout, marketing crisis, brand reputation, uneasy board members, investor expectations, consumer confidence, health issues and family challenges.—
Nancy Padberg,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2025
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But Musk’s rebuke has energized fiscal hawks in the Senate who were already uneasy with the legislation’s scope.—
Nik Popli,
Time,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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The withdrawn teen obsessively draws dark spiders in class and shows a disturbing fixation on news reports of school shootings.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
6 June 2025
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His disturbing legacy drew the attention of filmmaker and former HBO executive Kary Antholis, who had followed the case for decades.—
JP Mangalindan,
Time,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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Human Parallels: Our Bias Toward Confident Eloquence Perhaps most unsettling is how closely this AI limitation mirrors a persistent human cognitive bias.—
Cornelia C. Walther,
Forbes.com,
10 June 2025
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Graham says the casting team had considered looking for an older boy, given the demands of the role and the show’s unsettling subject matter.—
Glenn Whipp,
Los Angeles Times,
10 June 2025
Adjective
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On Tires, Gerben plays Will, the anxious and unqualified son of the auto-repair chain's owner.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
5 June 2025
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As a result, children can become frustrated and anxious when trying to learn math.—
Jennifer Pierce,
USA Today,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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The video highlighted how visibly nervous Jessie was while using jokes to get through the show.—
Tomás Mier,
Rolling Stone,
6 June 2025
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There’s nothing to be nervous about going into a spray tan.—
Catharine Malzahn,
Glamour,
5 June 2025
Adjective
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Nothing rings more true than the trope of the restless adolescent.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
People.com,
7 June 2025
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Across 17 restless songs, packed into 30 minutes, Mel V growls and scream-raps her way through a vicious yet silly mind dump.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
6 June 2025
Adjective
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Devon is suspicious of Simone’s borderline creepy relationship with her boss, Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore), and ambushes her with an intervention at the Kells’ island home.—
Emily Blackwood,
People.com,
3 June 2025
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Bug poems can’t completely sublimate their object of poetic attention—bugs are too creepy and alive.—
Hannah Brooks-Motl
June 2,
Literary Hub,
2 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Nail-biting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nail-biting. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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