nerve-racking

nerve-racking

English

Alternative forms

• nerve-wracking

Etymology

1812.[1]

Adjective

nerve-racking (comparative more nerve-racking, superlative most nerve-racking)

1. Intensely irritating or distressing to the nerves.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     His own greeting was equally cordial. "Still exploring!" he cried, as he shook them by the hand. "We will hope your new experiences will not be so nerve-racking as our last."

Synonyms

• gut-wrenching

Derived terms

• nerve-rackingly

Translations

intensely irritating or distressing

Chinese: Cantonese: 令人緊張嘅 (ling6 jan4 gan2 zoeng1 ge3) Danish: nervepirrende Dutch: zenuwslopend (nl) Finnish: hermoja raastava German: nervenzerfetzend (de), nervenaufreibend (de), nervenzermürbend Norwegian: Bokmål: nervepirrende (no) Nynorsk: nervepirrande

See also

• pain-racked

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “nerve-racking”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.