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
But the dog was weak, and highly strung, and suffered a heart attack one bright December morning in the country, leaping from the porch in happy pursuit of a squirrel.
From Literature
Under the FMBA, with its direct reporting line to the Kremlin, Star City’s clinic was a highly strung place.
From Reuters
I haven’t had much of a backlash from my friendship cull so far, apart from one angry, highly strung former school friend who sent a flurry of unpleasant messages after I unfriended her.
From The Guardian
But he says he respects the comics who dodge politics to avoid “an audience member getting offended or too highly strung”.
From Reuters
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.