nervy
part of speech
adjective (nervy, nervier, nerviest)
meaning for a pupil
1) (UK, Australia, NZ) Nervous, jumpy and easily worried or frightened. tree →
2) (US, informal) Bold and cheeky, daring to do things others would not. tree →
sense in the lessons
A word that means different things in different countries: in a British story, a "nervy" horse or child is jumpy; in an American story, a "nervy" kid is cheeky or brave. Used about sport ("a nervy finish") and everyday feelings.
examples
- I always feel a bit nervy before a test. (UK) tree →
- The horse was nervy and jumped at every noise. tree →
- It was a nervy last five minutes, but we held on to win. tree →
- The nervy kitten hid under the sofa. tree →
- That was a nervy thing to say to the principal! (US) tree →
- He gave a nervy laugh. tree →
- She was nervy on her first day at the new school. tree →
note
UK and US meanings differ: UK "nervy" = nervous; US "nervy" = bold or cheeky. Comparative "nervier", superlative "nerviest". Related: "nervous", "nerve" ("You've got a nerve!" = how rude/cheeky).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «nervy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.