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What is "nerve-racking"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
nerve-racking
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Fran faced a nerve-racking wait for her medical test results.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Although most people were relieved that the waiting game was over, the first days and nights were nerve-racking.
▪ I also discovered that being a guest on a talk show is pretty nerve-racking.
▪ It is never too early to score, but Sunderland faced a nerve-racking 55 minutes after that breakthrough.
▪ It was nerve-racking, having him watch her as she slid her feet out of bed, and pushed them into soft mules.
▪ It was rather nerve-racking, sitting there all on his own.
▪ Once I had a rather nerve-racking experience with him when I was working the horse rake in the lower field.
▪ Soderberg had a nerve-racking time, which seemed to be over by late 1987.
▪ The unveiling was happy but nerve-racking.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
nerve-racking

nerve-racking \nerve-racking\ (n[~e]rv"-r[a^]k`[i^]ng), adj. Extremely irritating to the nerves; stressful; trying; as, nerve-wracking noise. [Also spelled nerve-wracking.]

Syn: stressful, trying.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
nerve-racking

also nerveracking, 1812, from nerve + present participle of verbal sense of rack (n.1).

Wiktionary
nerve-racking

a. intensely irritating or distressing to the nerves alt. intensely irritating or distressing to the nerves

WordNet
nerve-racking

adj. extremely irritating to the nerves; "nerve-racking noise"; "the stressful days before a war"; "a trying day at the office" [syn: nerve-wracking, stressful, trying]

Usage examples of "nerve-racking".

Instead of melody, it was a harsh, discordant jumble of notes and broken chords which beat into the head with a horrible nerve-racking intensity and set the teeth continually on edge.

But, even with so much to do, the continual delays in convening the CIS hearing were irritating and nerve-racking.

Their mission as the flank guard for the 1st Brigade's southern flank had been, except for the initial six hours, tedious on one hand while at the same time, due to their exposed position on the brigade's flank, nerve-racking.

But by four o’clock she had reached the nerve-racking stage of wondering whether to send out all the menservants to scour the countryside, or whether in so doing she would be indulging a fit of extravagant folly which would infuriate Aubrey.

A long, long pause followed, and a nerve-racking fear that Lady Ingham was out of town assailed Phoebe.

It was uncomfortable there, but that was good, he thought as he began his nerve-racking trek toward the grim Victorian facade of the insane asylum.

As always, the transit of the cavern was nerve-racking but swift, and as they filed out into the secret valley, the moon was silvering the mongongo grove and polishing the high surrounding cliffs.

I had spoken in a loud voice that there might be no question that our would-be terrorizers should hear me, for I was tiring of this nerve-racking fiasco.

Peter, Martha, and Rick deftly unstacked the towers-a nerve-racking business to watch-while Greg and Carol and Mickey went after the instrumentation and the wind generator.