adjective
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nervous or apprehensive
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moving jerkily or fitfully
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of jumpy
Explanation
Someone who's jumpy is anxious and jittery. If you've ever been so nervous that you couldn't sit still, you know how it feels to be jumpy. This informal adjective is perfect for describing the sort of anxiety you can't hide. If you're shifting in your seat, crossing and uncrossing your legs, and nervously tapping your fingers on your knees as you wait to give a speech, you're jumpy. Jumpy also means "bumpy," as when you take a jumpy bike ride along a rocky, unpaved road.
Vocabulary lists containing jumpy
Long Way Down
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Elijah of Buxton
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The Night Diary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Jumpy Russian troops were spread across the city and Mr. Karamalikov needed to talk to Russian commanders like Alpha “to make sure they didn’t shoot any of the volunteers.”
From New York Times • Dec. 3, 2022
As further proof, here is dog trainer Omar von Muller’s protégé Jumpy, doing a parkour routine that includes jumps that should be impossible for a dog without the use of CGI:
From Slate • May 16, 2019
His uncle, Jumpy Geathers, played for four clubs over 14 seasons.
From Washington Times • Dec. 20, 2017
I know Jumpy can wrap himself up in a blanket, so I’m going to write a scene where that happens.’
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2016
It should take a prominent place in the proposed new issue of Half Hours with Jumpy Authors.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 100, April 11, 1891 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
