Unnerve
[ʌn'nɜːv] or [,ʌn'nɝv]
Definition
(v. t.) To deprive of nerve, force, or strength; to weaken; to enfeeble; as, to unnerve the arm.
Checker: Osbert
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Weaken, enfeeble, unman.
Checker: Osbert
Definition
v.t. to deprive of nerve strength or vigour: to weaken.—adj. Unner′vate (obs.) enervated.
Editor: Winthrop
Examples
- I don't know why, she said in low tones, but there is something in this suspicion of yours that seems to startle and unnerve me. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- This little matter settled, I asked for a bedroom; supper I could not take: I was still sea-sick and unnerved, and trembling all over. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- We were both unnerved by what had passed between us that evening. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The tall, thin man in his crumpled clothes was unnerved and irritable as a boy, finding himself on the brink of this social function. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- This earthquake has rather unnerved me, and I wish to see for myself if there is any probability of an eruption. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The shaking figure, unnerved and disjointed from head to foot, put out its two hands a little way, as making overtures of peace and reconciliation. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Many a casque, and bayonet, and sword, fallen from unnerved arms, reflected the departing ray; they lay scattered far and near. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- It was that which first unnerved my arms and permitted the infant I might have retained a while longer to be snatched prematurely from their embrace. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Inputed by Augustine