How to Use high-strung in a Sentence

high-strung

adjective
  • The heavy, high-strung, high-stakes series is a must-watch.
    — Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 22 Dec. 2025
  • The same is true of Sonny and Sal, his high-strung henchman.
    — Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2026
  • The scheme shocks their high-strung son Harold (Roberts), whose wife, Neha (Gill), is a local police officer.
    — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 18 Feb. 2026
  • Carlton Preppy, high-strung, ambitious, sweater vest-wearing, Tom Jones-loving cousin to the Fresh Prince.
    — Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 9 June 2026
  • Carlton Preppy, high-strung, ambitious, sweater vest-wearing, Tom Jones-loving cousin to the Fresh Prince.
    — Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 19 Jan. 2026
  • The combination of the car weighing less than 1,750 pounds, its slippery shape, and its high-strung engine, allows the 202 to nudge 105 mph.
    — Robert Ross, Robb Report, 13 Feb. 2026
  • In each of these roles, O’Hara grounded these high-strung personas while deftly winking at the audience and letting them in on the joke, particularly in the films’ mock-interview segments.
    — Paula Mejía, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2026
  • But the real shock here is Wilde, who not only knows how to keep viewers on the back foot as a filmmaker but slides into a neurotic register and off-kilter comic timing for her high-strung hostess that fit her like rubber glove.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2026
  • Angela, a high-strung perfectionist, spends the day meticulously preparing dinner and decorating the apartment for the impromptu gathering.
    — Olivia Singh, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026
  • The film follows Summer (McGraw), a high-strung teenager whose birthday getaway takes an unexpected turn when her free-spirited mom's new boyfriend joins the trip, who also happens to be her vice principal.
    — Lily Brown, PEOPLE, 16 June 2026
  • Who's ever going to complain about spending more time with high-strung Monica, nerdy Ross, emotional Rachel, spacey Phoebe, handsome Joey, or quip-ready Chandler?
    — Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 8 June 2026
  • Played with blistering sarcasm by Emily Blunt, the high-strung Runway magazine assistant had many of the most crackling one-liners in the original 2006 film.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 28 Apr. 2026
  • In episode three, that perfect fit is Benito Skinner, who plays a high-strung costume designer named Carter who wears Valerie down with a visual and spiritual assault on caftans on the set of her new sitcom.
    — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 9 Apr. 2026
  • But in April 2026, celebrity stylist Leslie Fremar came forward as the inspiration for the high-strung senior assistant played by Emily Blunt in the 2006 movie.
    — Emily Blackwood, PEOPLE, 2 May 2026
  • In the 1988 film, Scrooge is represented by Frank Cross (Murray), a high-strung, selfish and arrogant TV executive living in Manhattan.
    — Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 11 Dec. 2025
  • Things are further complicated when the eldest Stone son, played by Dermot Mulroney, brings his high-strung girlfriend, Meredith (Parker), home to meet the family, and the matriarch later reveals to everyone that her breast cancer has metastasized.
    — Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Dec. 2025
  • Click up to Sport or Race mode (available selections also include Wet, Comfort, and ESC Off), and suddenly the continent-crosser morphs into a high-strung canyon carver, one with enough punch to hang with more-muscular exotics.
    — Jonny Lieberman, Robb Report, 17 Jan. 2026
  • Meanwhile, as Hjalmar’s 14-year-old daughter, Hedvig, the elfin Maaike Laanstra-Corn is delivering yet another wonderfully eccentric embodiment of a high-strung tween with a potentially perilous excess of imagination.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 Sep. 2025
  • Somewhat more sympathetic are Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny), a gifted cellist, sidelined by chronic pain, whose generous donations keep the church running, and Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), a high-strung attorney.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The Family Stone Tension mounts when Everett (Dermot Mulroney) brings his high-strung girlfriend, Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker), home for Christmas to meet his family, who are fantastically played by the late Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson.
    — Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 11 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'high-strung.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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