neurotic

1. not comparableAffected with a neurosis.

   If there were such a thing as inspiration from a higher realm, it might well be that the neurotic temperament would furnish the chief condition of the requisite receptivity.

   1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC

2. informalnot comparableOverly anxious.

   He is getting neurotic about time-keeping.

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   “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers, the worn-out, passionless men,[…], the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis,[…]!”

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   “You did come down a wallop, didn't you? How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning, I said to myself. You're so terribly neurotic, Bertie. You must try to be less jumpy. What you need is a good nerve tonic.”

   1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

   Elisheva Lambert called herself a “totally neurotic Jew from Toronto who is doing everything my parents didn’t want me to.[…]”

   2002 January 17, Alina Tugend, “Reaching Out, With Cheek, to Young Jewish Readers”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2023

3. not comparablemedicineUseful in disorders of, or affecting, the nerves.

plural neurotics

1. medicineA person who has a neurosis.
2. informalA crazy person.

   DYSART: ...Advanced neurotics can be dazzling at that game. They aim unswervingly at your area of maximum vulnerability...

   1973, Peter Shaffer, “Act I, Scene 17”, in Equus, pages 56-7

   1 more example

   Drag this neurotic to hysterics, leave him balked and unfulfilled; holding inside, outwardly patient 'til the time he'll call it.

   1998, Eve 6, “How Much Longer”, in Eve 6