variants
or nerve-wracking
as in uneasy
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nerve-racking
In Parker's nerve-racking scene, her character gives gifts to each member of the Stone clan in an effort to mend fences with them, and Keaton's signature wit is on full display.
—
Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Dec. 2025
Serious belly laughs and nerve-racking moments arrive in equal measure; tonally, there’s nothing quite like it.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, Greengrass heaps calamity upon calamity, mounting the fire with nerve-racking expertise.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Robinson and Kanin actually have come up with an extremely quirky, often nerve-racking and occasionally gross depiction of 2025 as a time when clear communication is being replaced by misdirection, misinterpretation, AI customer service chats and a pervasive sense of loneliness.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nerve-racking
Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Dec. 2025
Serious belly laughs and nerve-racking moments arrive in equal measure; tonally, there’s nothing quite like it.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, Greengrass heaps calamity upon calamity, mounting the fire with nerve-racking expertise.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
Robinson and Kanin actually have come up with an extremely quirky, often nerve-racking and occasionally gross depiction of 2025 as a time when clear communication is being replaced by misdirection, misinterpretation, AI customer service chats and a pervasive sense of loneliness.
—Julie Hinds, Freep.com, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for nerve-racking
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nerve-racking
Adjective
-
Stage’s version translates the already uneasy feelings of hearing acid house reduced to happy-go-lucky plastic into something out of an actual acid trip.—
Billie Bugara,
Pitchfork,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Bashar is on the left, his body slightly angled away, his face uneasy.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Keira, a junior, said current events have been disturbing.—
Michelle Mullins,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Protesters gathered outside of an Inglewood daycare facility on Friday to express their outrage over a disturbing video that shows a teacher throwing her shoe at a 5-year-old student with autism in January.—
Dean Fioresi,
CBS News,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The hearing became tense as representatives pressed him on this point.—
Julie K. Brown,
Miami Herald,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Hilton also criticized Bianco for kneeling with protesters during tense demonstrations in 2020 in the wake of George Floyd‘s murder.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Kansas sophomore guard Jamari McDowell actually didn’t have time to get nervous — or overthink his role — after learning freshman sensation Darryn Peterson would miss Monday’s game against Arizona because of flu-like symptoms.—
Gary Bedore,
Kansas City Star,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Investors would understandably be nervous when both the CFO and the general counsel depart, according to Shivaram Rajgopal, an accounting professor at Columbia Business School.—
Sheryl Estrada,
Fortune,
10 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The Fall-Off can sometimes feel simpatico and obvious, with mellifluously soulful tones that conjure an air of anxious nostalgia.—
Mosi Reeves,
Rolling Stone,
9 Feb. 2026
-
At the same time, consumers appeared less anxious about inflation.—
Benzinga,
Freep.com,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
If the devoted nun resembles the raving patient, does that not justify locking them away, protecting ourselves from their unsettling power?—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Feb. 2026
-
One of the many unsettling images to emerge from the recent ICE surge in Minneapolis was that of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, in his blue bunny hat, standing in the January cold with the hand of a federal officer gripping his Spider-Man backpack.—
A.O. Scott,
New York Times,
3 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
And yet behind the distressful scene, a young man continues to butcher an animal.—
Kaely Monahan,
The Arizona Republic,
27 Mar. 2024
-
Despite the distressful news of Houston’s death that day, the event went forward to create a space for guests to mourn.—
Elizabeth Wagmeister,
CNN,
2 Feb. 2024
Adjective
-
Particularly in the era of LLM chatbots, which will flatter us and every one of our thoughts in conversation, self-inflicting this type of harsh criticism upon ourselves and our cherished ideas may seem especially unnerving.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
10 Feb. 2026
-
When those same renters feel unsafe going to work, the upshot is a crisis unfolding indoors — one that's less visible than arrests and detentions on the streets, but still deeply unnerving.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nerve-racking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nerve-racking. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
