How to Use nerve-racking in a Sentence

nerve-racking

adjective
  • If that feels nerve-racking for you, start with small steps.
    — Adunola Adeshola, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
  • My first day at Friends, in July 2000, was a nerve-racking blur.
    — Time, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Cumming admits this is the most nerve-racking thing to film.
    — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2025
  • Cumming admits this is the most nerve-racking thing to film.
    — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2025
  • And the prospect of shaving it off was nerve-racking for the actress ,who also had to do it on camera.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 24 Oct. 2024
  • The two 21-year-olds escaped to Turkey and spent eight nerve-racking hours on a rubber boat in the Mediterranean.
    — Erika Solomon, New York Times, 28 May 2023
  • For a nerve-racking month, Shady al-Hasoumy said, the family feared the worst for his 10-year-old nephew Yousef.
    — Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2024
  • All three series are some of the most nerve-racking shows on television.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 15 May 2023
  • Getting used to the bare-bones shoot took time, but the nerve-racking encounters started on day one.
    — Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Getting used to the bare-bones shoot took time, but the nerve-racking encounters started on day one.
    — Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Hoop Dreams has some nerve-racking sports scenes — has a free throw ever been more momentous?
    — Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 Apr. 2024
  • Choosing whether and where to buy a home is nerve-racking even if your only concern is your wallet.
    — Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 30 Mar. 2023
  • For missions headed to the moon’s surface, the two most nerve-racking moments are the rocket launch from Earth and the landing itself.
    — Anton Troianovski, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2023
  • So yes, just another nerve-racking day in the neighborhood for our fair chefs.
    — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 27 June 2024
  • There were a lot of staff there on set from the global Calvin Klein team, which was also a little nerve-racking, but exciting.
    — Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • The film, penned by Reitman and Gil Kenan, chronicles the nerve-racking and chaotic 90 minutes that led up to that first show.
    — Diego Ramos Bechara, Variety, 9 Aug. 2024
  • The drone dropped back to earth — a nerve-racking moment, as the explosive was already triggered to detonate.
    — Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 8 May 2023
  • The song wades in one of the recurring themes of Vandross’s life and music: the nerve-racking challenge of throwing oneself into a romance.
    — Ross Scarano, New York Times, 5 June 2024
  • Attending the 2024 Emmy Awards would be a nerve-racking experience for any celebrity guest—but for co-host Dan Levy, the stakes were that much higher.
    — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 16 Sep. 2024
  • Or maybe a nerve-racking thing, depending on your perspective.
    — Envelope Staff, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2024
  • Harvey tells Rolling Stone that that anticipation was the most nerve-racking part of performing in the Birthday Party.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 29 Aug. 2023
  • Quitting can be both nerve-racking and adrenaline boosting.
    — Samantha Leal, Glamour, 25 Dec. 2023
  • Tipped off about planes ferrying refugees out of the country, White escorts two clusters of refugees to the airport, enduring blazing heat, hungry waits and the nerve-racking threat of failure.
    — Mark Atwood Lawrence, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Investing during a presidential election year can be nerve-racking to say the least.
    — Justin Kittle, Kansas City Star, 17 July 2024
  • The attention was thrilling and nerve-racking for Van Pelt, who had been a stay-at-home mother and was unaccustomed to making public appearances.
    — Alexandra Alter, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2023
  • That’s the nerve-racking part of this (World Cup); the watching, the waiting.
    — Michael Silver, New York Times, 23 June 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
  • In the best-case scenario, what follows will be 13 minutes of nerve-racking tension—about half of which will be in radio blackout.
    — Lee Billings, Scientific American, 9 Apr. 2026
  • The ball will be reversed to Johnson in nerve-racking moments.
    — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 12 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nerve-racking.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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