as in paranoid
having or showing a very nervous or disordered state of mind
Her neurotic tendencies tend to manifest in her obsessive need for cleanliness. Our dog is a bit neurotic; she tends to panic around strangers.
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Recent Examples of neurotic
While Kidman’s Masha is back, this time lording over a group of needy and neurotic folks in the Bavarian Alps, the dull and draggy new season (premiering May 21) has little of the humor and emotional weight that made the original worth watching.
—
Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 19 May 2025
The neurotic inner monologue can take up only so much of the page.
—Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic, 19 May 2025
Étoile’s initially unwieldy ensemble also includes Tobias Bell (Maisel’s Gideon Glick), a fragile, neurotic American choreographer whose unorthodox style challenges tradition-loving French audiences.
—Judy Berman, Time, 23 Apr. 2025
Hollywood has always been a neurotic industry, but the current anxiety, uncertainty, and job losses are acute.
—Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for neurotic
Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 19 May 2025
The neurotic inner monologue can take up only so much of the page.
—Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic, 19 May 2025
Étoile’s initially unwieldy ensemble also includes Tobias Bell (Maisel’s Gideon Glick), a fragile, neurotic American choreographer whose unorthodox style challenges tradition-loving French audiences.
—Judy Berman, Time, 23 Apr. 2025
Hollywood has always been a neurotic industry, but the current anxiety, uncertainty, and job losses are acute.
—Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for neurotic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for neurotic
Adjective
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Hostile or disapproving questions about a silly meme, however, would raise the bar for paranoid border defense to an absurd new level.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
25 June 2025
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TikTok is full of viral paranoid suggestions for ways to test your relationship and ludicrous theories about the One Way to know if any relationship will work.—
Jia Tolentino,
New Yorker,
23 June 2025
Adjective
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The counselor also told police Trotman had had a previous psychotic break in which he was found wandering the woods.—
Peter Hermann,
Washington Post,
7 Feb. 2023
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Lewis prescribed Price anti-psychotic medication after a mental health referral Sept. 1.—
Thomas Saccente,
Arkansas Online,
17 Jan. 2023
Adjective
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Caregivers, or Care Pros, are the largest workforce in the U.S., yet their jobs are often undervalued and unstable.—
Glenn Llopis,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
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Residents in the wing that stayed intact managed to get out but were not allowed to return to their homes, and the rest of the building, determined to be unstable, was demolished 10 days later as a hurricane threatened South Florida.—
Linda Robertson,
Miami Herald,
24 June 2025
Adjective
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And although several college refs are famous and infamous within certain fan bases and leagues, college leaders are worried about backlash toward officials going any further.—
Chris Vannini,
New York Times,
18 June 2025
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This is perhaps the most important reason everyone should be so worried about the Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill.—
Paul Weinstein Jr,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2025
Adjective
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But perhaps the most persuasive testimony came from Mrs. Hall herself, who embodied the defense’s portrait of a loyal, unsuspecting wife, home alone and anxious over her husband’s mysterious disappearance.—
Jordan Runtagh,
People.com,
27 June 2025
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Other dogs, especially those that are anxious or suffer from separation anxiety, might find comfort in your scent.—
Maria Azzurra Volpe,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 June 2025
Adjective
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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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But the road to telling that story began with a restless boy in a quiet town, one who found escape not on the water, but in the light of screens both big and small, captivated by Steven Spielberg’s work and the classic soap opera Guiding Light.—
JP Mangalindan,
Time,
19 June 2025
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Meanwhile, the restless Seonwoo smells a vile stench from the apartment below where a lonely woman lives, and investigates.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
18 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Neurotic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/neurotic. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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