How to Use nerve-racking in a Sentence

nerve-racking

adjective
  • The next few weeks will prove nerve-racking yet crucial.
    — Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
  • That was honestly the most nerve-racking thing.
    — Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 25 Dec. 2025
  • All three series are some of the most nerve-racking shows on television.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 15 May 2023
  • Choosing whether and where to buy a home is nerve-racking even if your only concern is your wallet.
    — Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 30 Mar. 2023
  • So yes, just another nerve-racking day in the neighborhood for our fair chefs.
    — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 27 June 2024
  • And the prospect of shaving it off was nerve-racking for the actress ,who also had to do it on camera.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 24 Oct. 2024
  • Getting used to the bare-bones shoot took time, but the nerve-racking encounters started on day one.
    — Alamin Yohannes, EW.com, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Hoop Dreams has some nerve-racking sports scenes — has a free throw ever been more momentous?
    — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2024
  • That’s the nerve-racking part of this (World Cup); the watching, the waiting.
    — Michael Silver, New York Times, 23 June 2026
  • Or maybe a nerve-racking thing, depending on your perspective.
    — Envelope Staff, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2024
  • Transferring precious jewels is a nerve-racking, high-stakes game.
    — Ari Stark, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
  • My first day at Friends, in July 2000, was a nerve-racking blur.
    — Time, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Which makes getting out of the driveway a nerve-racking experience.
    — Caleb Harris, Austin American Statesman, 20 Feb. 2026
  • One of the most dangerous and nerve-racking parts of the Artemis II mission is still ahead.
    — Tom Costello, NBC news, 10 Apr. 2026
  • The drone dropped back to earth — a nerve-racking moment, as the explosive was already triggered to detonate.
    — Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times, 8 May 2023
  • Investing during a presidential election year can be nerve-racking to say the least.
    — Justin Kittle, Kansas City Star, 17 July 2024
  • In the best-case scenario, what follows will be 13 minutes of nerve-racking tension—about half of which will be in radio blackout.
    — Lee Billings, Scientific American, 9 Apr. 2026
  • There were a lot of staff there on set from the global Calvin Klein team, which was also a little nerve-racking, but exciting.
    — Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • But the process was much more nerve-racking for Underwood, who was also coming out as bisexual at the same time as polyamorous.
    — Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 27 Jan. 2026
  • The two 21-year-olds escaped to Turkey and spent eight nerve-racking hours on a rubber boat in the Mediterranean.
    — Erika Solomon, New York Times, 28 May 2023
  • For missions headed to the moon’s surface, the two most nerve-racking moments are the rocket launch from Earth and the landing itself.
    — Anton Troianovski, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2023
  • Serious belly laughs and nerve-racking moments arrive in equal measure; tonally, there’s nothing quite like it.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2025
  • Meeting the rapper, 44, in person proved to be a nerve-racking experience.
    — Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Ballet recitals can be nerve-racking for little ballerinas, but this dad made sure his daughter's first performance went perfectly.
    — Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 21 Dec. 2023
  • For a nerve-racking month, Shady al-Hasoumy said, the family feared the worst for his 10-year-old nephew Yousef.
    — Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2024
  • For Riverside residents living in the surrounding area, the incident is nerve-racking and a little too close to home.
    — Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Meanwhile, Greengrass heaps calamity upon calamity, mounting the fire with nerve-racking expertise.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
  • The man, who narrowly avoided a severe bear attack, gets to leave the frightening incident with a nerve-racking animal encounter story to share with his friends.
    — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Making your Major League debut is nerve-racking enough, but doing so while trying to preserve a no-hitter is a different kind of pressure.
    — Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 26 May 2026
  • The attention was thrilling and nerve-racking for Van Pelt, who had been a stay-at-home mother and was unaccustomed to making public appearances.
    — Alexandra Alter, New York Times, 30 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nerve-racking.' 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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