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
Always high-strung, he was prone to mysterious fainting spells and periods of nervous exhaustion, which led some to question his dedication.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2024
He was young and high-strung, and by his own admission he didn’t handle failure well.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 29, 2024
But he was high-strung, nervous, someone you often had to treat with kid gloves to settle him down, like a racehorse.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
