variants
or nerve-wracking
as in uneasy
marked by or causing agitation or uncomfortable feelings
the nerve-racking wait to learn the identities of the passengers who were killed in the plane crash
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of nerve-racking
In Parker's nerve-racking scene, her character gives gifts to each member of the Stone clan in an effort to mend fences with them, and Keaton's signature wit is on full display.
—
Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Dec. 2025
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
Meanwhile, Greengrass heaps calamity upon calamity, mounting the fire with nerve-racking expertise.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Robinson and Kanin actually have come up with an extremely quirky, often nerve-racking and occasionally gross depiction of 2025 as a time when clear communication is being replaced by misdirection, misinterpretation, AI customer service chats and a pervasive sense of loneliness.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nerve-racking
Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Dec. 2025
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
Meanwhile, Greengrass heaps calamity upon calamity, mounting the fire with nerve-racking expertise.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Robinson and Kanin actually have come up with an extremely quirky, often nerve-racking and occasionally gross depiction of 2025 as a time when clear communication is being replaced by misdirection, misinterpretation, AI customer service chats and a pervasive sense of loneliness.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nerve-racking
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nerve-racking
Adjective
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Though the private military firm has been credited with helping security forces get into neighborhoods and recently blew up the home of one of the country’s most notorious warlords, the presence of mercenaries operating in Haiti continues to make some lawmakers uneasy.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
11 Feb. 2026
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As the pair struggles to survive the brutal Canadian backcountry, an uneasy bond forms.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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But the extent of our housing affordability crisis is more disturbing than ever before.—
Margi Glavovic Nothard,
Sun Sentinel,
15 Feb. 2026
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Beginning with a montage of news footage from the day — the notorious May 1985 European Cup final between Italian club Juventus and English rivals Liverpool — the film’s open text informs viewers, or rather warns them, that disturbing historical images may follow.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Rather than trying to defuse a tense situation, officers abruptly used physical or chemical force.—
Natasha Korecki,
NBC news,
14 Feb. 2026
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If true, this likely suggests a very tense intercept scenario, perhaps even shadowing or escorting away from Chinese airspace.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Given the snowy conditions and fatigue levels, these are nervous moments for the athletes, with mere seconds separating winning from losing.—
Ben Church,
CNN Money,
18 Feb. 2026
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Hollywood version The team may have been extra nervous given that the previous high-profile adaptation of The House of the Spirits was a 1993 movie in English starring Hollywood actors like Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Some anxious Republicans have urged him to show more public displays of empathy.—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
16 Feb. 2026
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And things got as anxious as a guy on a first date with the prettiest girl in school.—
Kirk Kenney,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Still, that didn’t make the lore of Savannah any less bizarre, unsettling and riveting.—
Adam Kuehl,
New York Times,
19 Feb. 2026
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But Duvall works on a different frequency, making the corporate machinery of the network feel even more unsettling than the chaos on camera.—
Glenn Whipp,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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And yet behind the distressful scene, a young man continues to butcher an animal.—
Kaely Monahan,
The Arizona Republic,
27 Mar. 2024
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Despite the distressful news of Houston’s death that day, the event went forward to create a space for guests to mourn.—
Elizabeth Wagmeister,
CNN,
2 Feb. 2024
Adjective
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The rest of the rehearsal was only more unnerving.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Feb. 2026
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Particularly in the era of LLM chatbots, which will flatter us and every one of our thoughts in conversation, self-inflicting this type of harsh criticism upon ourselves and our cherished ideas may seem especially unnerving.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nerve-racking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nerve-racking. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
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