nervous
part of speech
adjective (more nervous, most nervous)
meaning for a pupil
1) Nervous means feeling worried or a little scared about something that is going to happen. tree →
2) A nervous person or animal is easily frightened or upset. tree →
3) The nervous system is the brain, spinal cord and nerves that carry messages around the body. tree →
sense in the lessons
In feelings lessons, being nervous before a test, a show or a first day is normal; deep breaths and talking help. You might have butterflies in your tummy, sweaty hands or a fast heartbeat. In science, the nervous system lets you feel, think and move. In stories, a nervous character shows fear or doubt. Phrases: nervous about, nervous of, feel nervous, a nervous wreck, the nervous system.
examples
- I feel nervous about my test tomorrow. tree →
- The new boy was nervous on his first day. tree →
- Horses get nervous in thunderstorms. tree →
- She gave a nervous laugh. tree →
- The nervous system carries messages from the brain. tree →
- It's normal to feel nervous before a race. tree →
- With a little trouble he found the tree the doctor had described, and, feeling nervous, he climbed up into it. tree →
note
Say "nervous about" a thing (nervous about the play) or "nervous of" something that frightens (nervous of dogs). Nervous is milder than terrified. "Nervous" does not mean angry; "on my nerves" (annoying) is different.
In the corpora
- Vibrato is a controlled wobble in the voice that singers use on purpose, different from a nervous shake.
- The Hatter is so nervous he bites a piece out of his teacup.
- The King: «Give your evidence, or I'll have you executed, whether you're nervous or not.»
- Confident speakers still feel nervous; practising, breathing slowly and starting with a smile help.
- "Nervous exhaustion" is an old-fashioned phrase for a mental breakdown.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «nervous» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.