as in breakdown
a mental or nervous collapse
you're going to have a nervous breakdown if you keep up that pace
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Recent Examples of nervous breakdown
Or perhaps Christie had a bout of amnesia or a nervous breakdown and traveled confusedly around England, as many of her biographers and her own doctors have suggested.
—
Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 24 July 2025
Maybe Pippa has a nervous breakdown and checks herself into a high-end spa/sanatorium in western Massachusetts.
—John Kenney, New Yorker, 21 July 2025
Her father, Edwin, was a lawyer with a dangerous relationship with booze, and her mother, also named Amelia but called Amy, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
—Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2025
But the high demands of a relentless industry proved too much and in late December 1964, Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown and stopped touring, becoming a full-time studio artist for the better part of more than a decade after that.
—Christina Maxouris, CNN Money, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for nervous breakdown
Emily Zarevich, JSTOR Daily, 24 July 2025
Maybe Pippa has a nervous breakdown and checks herself into a high-end spa/sanatorium in western Massachusetts.
—John Kenney, New Yorker, 21 July 2025
Her father, Edwin, was a lawyer with a dangerous relationship with booze, and her mother, also named Amelia but called Amy, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
—Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2025
But the high demands of a relentless industry proved too much and in late December 1964, Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown and stopped touring, becoming a full-time studio artist for the better part of more than a decade after that.
—Christina Maxouris, CNN Money, 11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for nervous breakdown
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nervous breakdown
breakdown
Noun
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The final stage of the breakdown does, ultimately, involve Hermit and Slightly — and also, tragically, Arthur Sylvia.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
10 Sep. 2025
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Mid-century collective behavior theories considered social movements to be nonrational, spontaneous events occurring during moments of social and cultural breakdown.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Nervous breakdown.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nervous%20breakdown. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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