nerve-racking

adjective

ˈnərv-ˌra-kiŋ How to pronounce nerve-racking (audio)
variants or nerve-wracking
Definition of nerve-rackingnext
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nerve-racking 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 Feeling the weight of an entire country seems like a nerve-racking prospect, but the women of BINI take it in stride. — Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 17 Apr. 2026 One of the most dangerous and nerve-racking parts of the Artemis II mission is still ahead. — Tom Costello, NBC news, 10 Apr. 2026 Whitaker is just starting his first year, but is that nerve-racking to know as an actor? — Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 10 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for nerve-racking
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nerve-racking
  1. uneasy
  2. disturbing
  3. tense
  4. nervous
  5. anxious
  6. unsettling
  7. distressful
  8. unnerving
Adjective
  • Vingegaard placed second and Roglič third, completing a historic-but-uneasy single-team podium.
    — Chris Marshall-Bell, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • In this tense, uneasy landscape, a separated couple, Natalie and Asher, reunite to take their child, Logan, on a trip to tour colleges in both territories.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of uneasy
Adjective
  • There, Musk’s disturbing lack of empathy would glory in slashing jobs and spending, including on the vital USAID.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 8 Sep. 2026
  • That part is too real, too disturbing, and Barrett’s hollow script avoids tackling the subject head on.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of disturbing
Adjective
  • Two years later, when coached by New Zealander Warren Gatland, Wales learned that a haka was not technically over until any side looked away — and so began a tense 80-second stare-off between the two sides.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Massive bears square up in Alaska ABC News shared a video on Instagram this week of two massive bears in a tense standoff in Alaska.
    — David Hookstead OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of tense
Adjective
  • People were understandably very nervous about being on camera, letting a camera into the room.
    — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026
  • Vinny, short for Vincent van Gogh, gets nervous and prefers shorter, quieter walks, and Macaroni, named after Fleetwood Mac, makes the stroller a tight squeeze for two cats.
    — Emily Tarinelli, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of nervous
Adjective
  • That feels very much in tune with the anxious characters Eisenberg has played over the course of his acting career, but this whole directing thing is working out nicely for him, too.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Nelson remembers hushing her foster children back to sleep that night and calling 911, anxious for an end to those sleepless nights.
    — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of anxious
Adjective
  • The tiny farming settlement of Poilley, in Brittany, would become her home for the next eight years, and the subject of more than 50,000 intimate, often unsettling photographs.
    — Felix Bazalgette, The New York Review of Books, 5 Sep. 2026
  • And an overture from an ABC exec (Jessica Hecht) to Andie to jump ship represents another kind of unsettling grooming.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of unsettling
Adjective
  • Carrying debt can be incredibly distressful, especially with sky-high prices for food, gas and housing.
    — Mallika Mitra, Sacbee.com, 24 Aug. 2026
  • And yet behind the distressful scene, a young man continues to butcher an animal.
    — Kaely Monahan, The Arizona Republic, 27 Mar. 2024
Definition of distressful
Adjective
  • Yet ballrooms dipped in gold are still not as unnerving as the fact that America’s $40 trillion federal debt is now bigger than the entire annual economic output of almost every single nation on Earth.
    — Pat Beall, Sun Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026
  • That could be fantastic for an interview, a doctor’s appointment or a parent-teacher conference, but a little unnerving for everyone else in the room.
    — Jennifer Jolly, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of unnerving

Browse Nearby Words

nervelessly
nerve-racking
nerves
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Cite this Entry

“Nerve-racking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nerve-racking. Accessed 14 Sep. 2026.

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