neurotic

¹

[ noo-rot-ik, nyoo- ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of neurosis.

noun

1. a neurotic person.

neurotic

²

[ noo-rot-ik, nyoo- ]

adjective

, Pathology.

1. pertaining to the nerves or to nerve disease; neural: no longer in technical use.

neurotic

/ njʊˈrɒtɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or afflicted by neurosis

noun

1. a person who is afflicted with a neurosis or who tends to be emotionally unstable or unusually anxious

Derived Forms

• neuˈrotically, adverb

Other Words From

• neu·rotic·al·ly adverb
• semi·neu·roti·cal·ly adverb
• unneu·roti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of neurotic¹

First recorded in 1870–75; neur(osis) + -otic

Origin of neurotic²

First recorded in 1765–75; neuro- + -tic

Example Sentences

“Even though in my heart I know that it’s not a bad thing. There’s still a piece of me that thinks that. And I hate that side of me,” he said in an article titled “Confessions of a Neurotic Teen Idol.”

From Los Angeles Times

When she played Dustin Hoffman’s long-suffering girlfriend in the 1982 hit film “Tootsie,” New Yorker critic Pauline Kael called Garr “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on the screen.”

From Los Angeles Times

But these responses are best understood as symptoms of our national neurotic delusion: the delusion that no one can really be that evil; the delusion that our system will prevent him from doing what he says he will do; the delusion that sociopaths don’t really exist.

From Slate

If the Democrats are to get through this, they must take the neurotic gloves off and focus on one goal: forcing Democrats and Republicans alike to see that the Trump reality is leading the country off a cliff and that the only one with a parachute is Trump.

From Slate

“Fact checking” has become the self-soothing fantasy of a neurotic press—useless because the real issue is that Trump and his followers live in a completely separate reality.

From Slate

Related Words

• compulsive
• distraught
• disturbed
• manic
• obsessive