neurotic

¹

[noo-rot-ik, nyoo-]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of neurosis.

noun

1. a neurotic person.

neurotic

²

[noo-rot-ik, nyoo-]

adjective

Pathology.

1. pertaining to the nerves or to nerve disease; neural: no longer in technical use.

neurotic

/ njʊˈrɒtɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or afflicted by neurosis

noun

1. a person who is afflicted with a neurosis or who tends to be emotionally unstable or unusually anxious

Other Word Forms

• neurotically adverb
• semineurotically adverb
• unneurotically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of neurotic¹

First recorded in 1870–75; neur(osis) + -otic

Origin of neurotic²

First recorded in 1765–75; neuro- + -tic

Example Sentences

Freud believed the drive to collect was neurotic.

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She won the Academy Award for best actress for 1977’s “Annie Hall,” in which she plays the neurotic titular heroine written by her former partner Woody Allen.

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She’s all but doomed to be bourgeois and neurotic, as if a juvenile court has sentenced her to live in a New Yorker cartoon.

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Then I grew into a neurotic adult with an ever-growing list of rational and irrational fears — from weird headaches and mold to running into casual acquaintances at the grocery store.

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Not sure why she’s so concerned about what happened to Tanya, who was a neurotic mess, heartlessly crushing her dreams of owning a business.

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Related Words

• compulsive 
• distraught 
• disturbed 
• manic 
• obsessive