neurotic
1 Americanadjective
noun
-
neurotics
plural
adjective
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of neurotic1
First recorded in 1870–75; neur(osis) + -otic
Origin of neurotic2
Explanation
If you call someone neurotic, you are saying she is stressed out. Neurotic can be a psychological term or it can be used more loosely. You may have a neurotic tendency to bite your nails or to pull out your hair. Ouch. The adjective neurotic refers to someone who shows signs of mental disturbance but does not indicate complete psychosis. Neurotic comes from neuro-, from a Greek word for "nerve." It can also describe someone with neurotic behaviors, so you can think of a neurotic as someone who has a particularly bad case of nerves.
Vocabulary lists containing neurotic
Body Parts: Neur ("Nerve")
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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.
See Examples For:
Sturgis specializes in these kinds of neurotic eccentrics, but his portrayal didn’t help me identify Ru’s secret appeal or believe in the trauma that we later learned occurred when his car broke down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
They are the diametrical opposites of Angela and Joe: calm and free, while their downstairs neighbors are neurotic and toxically codependent.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Germany is uniquely neurotic about debt and about unsound money.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026
“Marty Supreme,” the story of a neurotic table tennis player trying to level up his game, recently became A24’s highest-grossing film at the domestic box office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
"And you," I continued with sudden force, "laughed and said I had the perfect setup of a true neurotic and that that question came from some questionnaire you'd had in psychology class that week?"
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
Storr acknowledged that Dr. Janov had “made a lot of neurotics feel better,” but he attributed the success essentially to the power of suggestion.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 4, 2017
They attack the very shelter nature had given them, something neurotics of all animal classes can relate to.
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2017
But something unexpected happens: Mendel falls madly in love with Trina, further entangling this skein of classic New York neurotics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2016
He specializes in neurotics with an entertainingly blinkered viewpoint, and he has no interest in taking off the blinkers here.
From The Verge ● Jul. 22, 2015
Dora had handled plenty of neurotics in her time.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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.
