Search Result for "nervous": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (5)

1. easily agitated;
- Example: "a nervous addict"
- Example: "a nervous thoroughbred"

2. causing or fraught with or showing anxiety;
- Example: "spent an anxious night waiting for the test results"
- Example: "cast anxious glances behind her"
- Example: "those nervous moments before takeoff"
- Example: "an unquiet mind"
[syn: anxious, nervous, queasy, uneasy, unquiet]

3. of or relating to the nervous system;
- Example: "nervous disease"
- Example: "neural disorder"
[syn: nervous, neural]

4. excited in anticipation;
[syn: aflutter, nervous]

5. unpredictably excitable (especially of horses);
[syn: skittish, flighty, spooky, nervous]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Nervous \Nerv"ous\ (n[~e]rv"[u^]s), a. [L. nervosus sinewy, vigorous: cf. F. nerveux. See Nerve.] 1. Possessing nerve; sinewy; strong; vigorous. "Nervous arms." --Pope. [1913 Webster] 2. Possessing or manifesting vigor of mind; characterized by strength in sentiment or style; forcible; spirited; as, a nervous writer. [1913 Webster] 3. Of or pertaining to the nerves; seated in the nerves; as, nervous excitement; a nervous fever. [1913 Webster] 4. Having the nerves weak, diseased, or easily excited; subject to, or suffering from, undue excitement of the nerves; easily agitated or annoyed. [1913 Webster] Poor, weak, nervous creatures. --Cheyne. [1913 Webster] 5. Sensitive; excitable; timid. [1913 Webster] 6. Apprehensive; as, a child nervous about his mother's reaction to his bad report card. [PJC] Our aristocratic class does not firmly protest against the unfair treatment of Irish Catholics, because it is nervous about the land. --M. Arnold. [1913 Webster] Nervous fever (Med.), a low form of fever characterized by great disturbance of the nervous system, as evinced by delirium, or stupor, disordered sensibility, etc. Nervous system (Anat.), the specialized coordinating apparatus which endows animals with sensation and volition. In vertebrates it is often divided into three systems: the central, brain and spinal cord; the peripheral, cranial and spinal nerves; and the sympathetic. See Brain, Nerve, Spinal cord, under Spinal, and Sympathetic system, under Sympathetic, and Illust. in Appendix. Nervous temperament, a condition of body characterized by a general predominance of mental manifestations. --Mayne. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

nervous adj 1: easily agitated; "a nervous addict"; "a nervous thoroughbred" 2: causing or fraught with or showing anxiety; "spent an anxious night waiting for the test results"; "cast anxious glances behind her"; "those nervous moments before takeoff"; "an unquiet mind" [syn: anxious, nervous, queasy, uneasy, unquiet] 3: of or relating to the nervous system; "nervous disease"; "neural disorder" [syn: nervous, neural] 4: excited in anticipation [syn: aflutter, nervous] 5: unpredictably excitable (especially of horses) [syn: skittish, flighty, spooky, nervous]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

168 Moby Thesaurus words for "nervous": acid, agitable, agitated, all nerves, all-overish, allergic, anaphylactic, anxious, anxioused up, apprehensive, bashful, biting, bothered, concerned, corrosive, cowardly, critical, cutting, delicate, difficult, diffident, discomposed, disquieted, distressed, disturbed, driving, edgy, effective, emotional, emotionally unstable, empathetic, empathic, eruptive, excitable, excited, explosive, fearful, fearing, fearsome, feverish, fidgety, flurried, flustered, forceful, forcible, foreboding, fretful, frightened, goosey, goosy, gutsy, high-mettled, high-spirited, high-strung, highly emotional, hyperesthetic, hyperpathic, hypersensitive, imperative, impressive, in a dither, in a pucker, in a stew, in a sweat, in a tizzy, in fear, incisive, inflammable, irascible, irritable, itchy, jittery, jumpy, mettlesome, misgiving, mordant, mousy, nerval, nerves on edge, nervy, neural, neurological, on edge, on tenterhooks, overanxious, overapprehensive, overrefined, oversensible, oversensitive, overstrung, overtender, panicky, passible, penetrating, perturbable, perturbed, piercing, poignant, powerful, prickly, punchy, querulous, rabbity, refined, responsive, restless, ruffled, scared, scary, sensational, sensitive, shaken, shaken up, shaky, shivery, shrinking, shy, sinewed, sinewy, skittery, skittish, slashing, snappish, solicitous, spooky, startlish, stirred up, strained, striking, strong, strung out, supersensitive, suspenseful, sympathetic, tactful, telling, tender, tense, tetchy, thin-skinned, ticklish, timid, timorous, touchy, trembling, tremulous, trenchant, trepidant, trigger-happy, troubled, troublous, turbulent, twittery, uneasy, unpeaceful, unquiet, unrestful, upset, uptight, vigorous, vital, volatile, volcanic, waspish, worked up, worried, wrought up, zealous