highly strung
Britishadjective
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.
Aimée Kelly plays the role with a winning blend of caustic humor and narcissistic self-pity: She’s highly strung, manipulative and insecure.
From New York Times • Oct. 27, 2023
"Together, they are the highly strung dysfunctional double-act that post-lockdown cinema didn't know it needed," he added in his four-star review.
From BBC • May 28, 2021
Under the FMBA, with its direct reporting line to the Kremlin, Star City’s clinic was a highly strung place.
From Reuters • Nov. 13, 2020
When a thespian gets nominated for an Academy Award—cue the couture frocks, highly strung stylists, hair-burners, and eyebrow threaders—she climbs into the fashion cannon and somebody lights the fuse.
From Slate • Feb. 28, 2016
A member of the Non-European Unity Movement, Don had grown up in the diamond-mining area of Kimberley and was a rugged, fearless fellow who was also highly strung.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
