unnerve.
To deprive of nerve, force, or strength; to weaken; to enfeeble. Compare enervate.
Meaning & usage
To deprive of nerve, force, or strength; to weaken; to enfeeble. Compare enervate.
to unnerve the arm
To make somebody nervous, upset, alarm, shake the resolve of.
I was greatly unnerved by the news that my attacker was back in the country.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder. Proto-Germanic *anda- Proto-West Germanic *anda- Old English and- Old English on- Middle English on- English un- English nerve English unnerve From un- + nerve.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.