high-strung
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of high-strung
First recorded in 1740–50
Explanation
Someone who's high-strung is extremely nervous or overly sensitive. When your high-strung neighbor comes over for coffee, you may be tempted to secretly substitute decaf for regular. A high-strung dog will start trembling and shaking during a thunderstorm, and a high-strung horse is jittery and easily spooked by unfamiliar noises. You might even describe yourself as high-strung if you find it very hard to relax. Before high-strung was used in this figurative way, it was a musician's term. Today, a high-strung or "Nashville tuned" guitar is tuned an octave higher than normal, using finer guitar strings.
Vocabulary lists containing high-strung
Rosa Parks: My Story
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Gather
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Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
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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.
Tom is a law professor and his wife, Amy, is a frustrated and high-strung housewife.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025
Her high-strung sensibilities might align with Everett’s mind for business, but Meredith certainly isn’t the kind of woman that can loosen up the eldest son’s stiff demeanor.
From Salon • Oct. 15, 2025
“She has a palpable warmth,” Morrison writes, “and, like Michaels, has a knack for dealing with high-strung famous people.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2025
He was young and high-strung, and by his own admission he didn’t handle failure well.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 29, 2024
It would be a Swanburne squirrel through and through, and, therefore, its behavior could not be considered representative of the high-strung and woefully undereducated furball that is more typical of the species.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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.
