nerve-racking

or nerve-wrack·ing

[nurv-rak-ing]

adjective

extremely irritating, annoying, or trying: a nerve-racking day; a nerve-racking noise.

Origin of nerve-racking

First recorded in 1805–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for nerve-wracking

Contemporary Examples of nerve-wracking

Yeah, it can be nerve-wracking, but it seems to work for me.
‘Treme’ Writer and Detective Novelist George Pelecanos: How I Write
Noah Charney
September 26, 2012
That time had been nerve-wracking, yet extremely happy for the family.
The Bin Ladens' Family Struggle
Jean Sasson
May 3, 2011

Historical Examples of nerve-wracking

"You're a nerve-wracking woman, Lyad," Belchik said unhappily.
Legacy
James H Schmitz
But Janet preferred not to listen to the wind; it was too mournful, too nerve-wracking.
Janet Hardy in Hollywood
Ruthe S. Wheeler
He'd taken on the lonely, nerve-wracking job of service station attendant just to see what it offered.
Acid Bath
Vaseleos Garson
It was a night of agony by thirst, of nerve-wracking bomb explosions, and of bayonet jabs in the dark.
New Zealanders at Gallipoli
Major Fred Waite
To Greg Hunter the siege of the orbit-ship had been a nerve-wracking game of listening and waiting for something to happen.
Gold in the Sky
Alan Edward Nourse

British Dictionary definitions for nerve-wracking

nerve-racking

nerve-wracking

adjective

very distressing, exhausting, or harrowing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for nerve-wracking

adj.

also nervewracking, 1867, from nerve + present participle of wrack (v.).

nerve-racking

adj.

also nerveracking, 1812, from nerve + present participle of verbal sense of rack (n.1).