UNNERVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unnerve mean? 

• UNNERVE (verb)
  The verb UNNERVE has 1 sense:

1. disturb the composure of

  Familiarity information: UNNERVE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNNERVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they unnerve    ... he / she / it unnerves   
Past simple: unnerved   
Past participle: unnerved   
-ing form: unnerving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Disturb the composure of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

enervate; faze; unnerve; unsettle

Hypernyms (to "unnerve" is one way to...):

discomfit; discompose; disconcert; untune; upset (cause to lose one's composure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "unnerve"):

unman (cause to lose one's nerve)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The bad news will unnerve him

 Context examples 

I was chilled and unnerved, and angry with the Professor for taking me on such an errand and with myself for coming.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“Alas! alas!” he cried, all unnerved at the sight, “why is it that you are so sad, lady?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So unnerved was I by the thought of impending violence to Leach and Johnson that my reason must have left me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was not so much White Fang's ferocity as it was his silence that unnerved the groom.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It was an awesome thing to sleep in that ill-fated camp; and yet it was even more unnerving to do so in the jungle.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These things, in conjunction with the wild work we have in hand, help to unnerve a man.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Alleyne, all unnerved at so strange and unwonted a sight, shrunk up against the wall with his eyes fixed upon the frenzied creature, which came bounding along with ungainly speed, looking the larger in the uncertain light, its huge jaws agape, with blood and slaver trickling to the ground.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)