variants
or nerve-wracking
as in nervous
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
What should have been an incredibly nerve-racking week for Liverpool and their fans is now simply just people being excited about watching the Premier League’s new champions play again.
—
Andy Jones, New York Times, 11 May 2025
Fridays have become some of the most nerve-racking times for mass firings of civil servants since President Donald Trump took office on January 20 and established DOGE.
—Nathan Layne, USA Today, 4 Apr. 2025
Even when he’s engulfed by neo-Nazi demonstrations, Talwar wants nothing more than to belong — a nerve-racking ethical tug-of-war that introduces a sense of danger.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 24 Feb. 2025
Multiple new blazes have erupted in Southern California The Hughes, Sepulveda and Laguna fires are the latest blazes in a nerve-racking week as Southern California heads into a fourth consecutive day of red flag fire weather warnings.
—Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nerve-racking
Andy Jones, New York Times, 11 May 2025
Fridays have become some of the most nerve-racking times for mass firings of civil servants since President Donald Trump took office on January 20 and established DOGE.
—Nathan Layne, USA Today, 4 Apr. 2025
Even when he’s engulfed by neo-Nazi demonstrations, Talwar wants nothing more than to belong — a nerve-racking ethical tug-of-war that introduces a sense of danger.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 24 Feb. 2025
Multiple new blazes have erupted in Southern California The Hughes, Sepulveda and Laguna fires are the latest blazes in a nerve-racking week as Southern California heads into a fourth consecutive day of red flag fire weather warnings.
—Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nerve-racking
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nerve-racking
Adjective
-
After a decade of mayhem, property destruction, and nervous soldiers firing into a crowd, the rebellion broke into gunfire between British regulars and American militia at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.—
Dan McLaughlin,
National Review,
17 June 2025
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Around liberal America, these were the questions asked with a nervous laugh at dinner parties, in office small talk, on university campuses.—
Carlo Versano,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 June 2025
Adjective
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Over the past few weeks, Bieber has found himself at the center of increasingly tense run-ins with paparazzi.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
16 June 2025
-
Their only hope is to get to a nearby island, a situation made harder – and much more tense – by a clever great white, noteworthy for being a real shark rather than a CGI one like most films use.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
16 June 2025
Adjective
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One in every three young adults aged 18-25 reports feeling anxious or lonely.—
Ann Kowal Smith,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
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Perfectionist tendencies may cause an anxious person to limit their food intake, choose to eat only a limited range of foods, or exercise in excess.—
Brittany Dube,
Health,
17 June 2025
Adjective
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Edan Lui of Hong Kong boy band Mirror will also make his Korean drama debut in the new season, joining the cast in a role that pairs him in an uneasy alliance with Kim Do-gi.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
25 June 2025
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Repeatedly returning to themes of globalization and alienation, the 55-year-old director has meticulously chronicled his country’s uneasy plunge into the 21st century as rampant industrialization risks deadening those left behind.—
Tim Grierson,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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Content moderators are workers who remove disturbing content from social media—data which is often then used to train AI systems like ChatGPT or Facebook’s algorithms.—
Billy Perrigo,
Time,
19 June 2025
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These stories reveal a disturbing truth: AI can automate and amplify existing biases, leading to real-world injustice.—
Sajal Singh,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Nerve-racking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nerve-racking. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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