twitchier; twitchiest
1
: marked by twitches or jerking movements : tending to twitch
Oliver did not think he would be able to sleep, but he did sleep—a restless, twitchy sleep filled with hideous dreams.Eva Ibbotson
Round-shouldered yet angular, he walked in a twitchy manner that recalled a spider, his oily hair swinging about his face.J. K. Rowling
2
: nervously on edge or fretful
This revelation was an incredible relief to those of us who get a little twitchy at the thought of making pasta …Jane Daniels Lear
There was action every minute, and so much momentum carrying the story forward that until I finished it, I was in a sort of twitchy agony if I got stuck doing anything else.Eric Konigsberg

Examples of twitchy in a Sentence

examining the twitchy little poodle was a challenge for the vet
Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
After all, facial swelling isn’t as common as, say, a twitchy eyelid. Katie Camero, SELF, 23 Oct. 2024 The balance between witty humor and monster mayhem is perfectly calibrated, with John Goodman bringing the laughs as a gregarious exterminator and Jeff Daniels providing twitchy paranoia as a small-town doctor with an intense phobia of all things arachnid. Katie Rife, EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024 Played in sequence or together, the interval between the notes F and B clash in a way that feels twitchy, unnatural, and foreboding. Staff, Quartz, 25 Sep. 2024 Floating Points: Cascade [Ninja Tune] Sam Shepherd’s first solo Floating Points album since 2019 reasserts the British producer and jazz composer at the helm of the dancefloor, splaying ornate melodies over twitchy rhythms as likely to induce stupefied wonder as full-body spasms. Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 13 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for twitchy 

Word History

First Known Use

1787, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of twitchy was in 1787

Dictionary Entries Near twitchy

Cite this Entry

“Twitchy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/twitchy. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.

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