nervous hit

8.6

A sudden strong feeling of worry or loss of confidence

noun

: sorpresa nerviosa

He experiences a nervous hit whenever he speaks in front of a large audience.

Examples

Markets suffered a nervous hit following the unexpected announcement.
After the stock market crash, many investors experienced a nervous hit.
After hearing the bad news, she took a nervous hit and struggled to focus.
She felt a sudden nervous hit before her presentation.
He experiences a nervous hit whenever he speaks in front of a large audience.
After hearing the bad news, she took a nervous hit and struggled to focus.
She felt a sudden nervous hit before her presentation.

Synonyms

jitters

vsnervous hit

Informal

40 5.5

A strong nervous feeling that often comes before an important event

is a sudden surge of anxiety or sharp drop in confidence

nervousness

vsnervous hit

33 2.7

A feeling of being worried or anxious

is a sudden surge of anxiety or sharp drop in confidence

Antonyms

confidence

391 2.1

A belief that you can do something well

stability

283 3.1

Being steady and not likely to change

How Intense

panic attack

68 4.3

nervous hit

8.6

spike

77 3.5

to twinge

1 6.0

Surface Forms

nervous hit singular

nervous hits plural

Morphology

nervous + hit

The adjective 'nervous' modifies 'hit' in a straightforward compositional way, so a learner who knows both words can infer something like 'a sudden impact or surge of nervousness'. However, using 'hit' to mean an emotional surge is somewhat metaphorical and 'nervous hit' is not a common, conventional collocation, so the exact nuance may not be fully predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

The noun nervous hit comes from the image of being hit by a sudden wave of fear: nervous shows the feeling and hit shows how fast and strong it comes. So a nervous hit means 'a sudden rush of anxiety' or 'a quick loss of confidence or value'.