😬 Nervous and excited 🐦 Like bird chirping

twittery

7.9

Feeling nervous, excited, and unable to stay still

adjective
/ˈtwɪtəri/

Informal

: nervioso

The children were twittery with excitement as they waited for the show to start.

Examples

She felt quite twittery before her big presentation.
He always gets twittery before important meetings at work.
She felt twittery before giving her first public speech.
Why are you so twittery today?
The children were twittery with excitement as they awaited the arrival of the magician.
She became twittery when she realized she would be meeting her favorite author.
He felt twittery after drinking too much coffee before the big presentation.

Synonyms

twitchy

vstwittery

Informal

9 4.6

Feeling nervous and unable to stay still

is general nervous excitement or talkiness without sudden twitching

fidgety

vstwittery

8 4.8

Unable to stay still because you feel nervous

is broader nervous excitement that can include talk or restlessness

fluttery

vstwittery

2 4.9

Feeling nervous and excited with a quick, shaky feeling in the body

is more general nervous excitement or talkativeness rather than light shakiness

atwitter

vstwittery

Literature

1 8.9

Feeling excited and nervous while waiting for something

is general nervous excitement or restlessness not only from anticipation

toey

vstwittery

Australian

1 9.9

Feeling nervous and restless before an important event

is broader nervous excitement including talkativeness not only anticipation

chattery

vstwittery

Informal

5.4

Talking a lot in a friendly, lively way

is nervous excitement that also involves restlessness or agitation not mere chatter

talky-talky

vstwittery

Informal

9.6

Full of long conversations that feel boring

is nervous excitement sometimes talkative but not necessarily tedious or excessive

How Nervous

panicked

16 4.6

anxious

201 2.7

jittery

26 4.5

twittery

Informal

7.9

uneasy

98 3.2

Surface Forms

twittery positive

Morphology

twittery = twitter (transparent) = twitter + y

Formed from the base 'twitter' plus the productive adjectival suffix '-y', so the adjective meaning 'characterized by twittering' (nervous/talkative) is directly derived.

Etymology

Twittery comes from the sound word twitter, which copies birds' quick chirps and is like the familiar word tweet. A helpful way to remember the first meaning is to imagine a person who is 'twittery' as nervous or restless and talking in short, quick bursts, like a bird that keeps chirping.