How to Use hit/strike/touch a nerve in a Sentence

hit/strike/touch a nerve

idiom
  • Songs like this explain why the album hit a nerve with fans.
    Alexis Oatman, Essence, 30 Sep. 2023
  • And its combative tone seemed intended to strike a nerve.
    Rachyl Jones, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2023
  • But, regardless of how Winning Time drove it home, the death of Larry's dad hit a nerve in its viewers that could be a sign of where the show is going in the future.
    Keith Nelson, Men's Health, 21 Aug. 2023
  • Something about them and something about that story really hit a nerve.
    K.j. Yossman, Variety, 27 Sep. 2022
  • For Opel, who had been fired from education jobs, the Briggs Initiative hit a nerve.
    Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2023
  • After the cheery foot massage, though, Behar appeared to hit a nerve with the 53-year-old during a discussion about his potential run for office in his home state of Texas.
    Joey Nolfi, EW.com, 12 Sep. 2023
  • But his latest intervention hit a nerve with the government.
    Leila Sackur, NBC News, 12 Mar. 2023
  • Numerous employees of the company wrote Mr. Anderson that his post had hit a nerve.
    Mike Isaac, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Libra September 23-October 22 A criticism that was meant to be constructive can strike a nerve for you.
    Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 9 Apr. 2023
  • Memories of being confined to their homes and of panic buying that in some areas led to food shortages remain fresh in people’s minds and the idea of a return to Covid-style measures appears to have hit a nerve.
    Chris Lau, CNN, 11 Mar. 2023
  • Skipping forward in two 12-year intervals, the film asks questions about love, time and geographic barriers that strike a nerve in all manner of viewers.
    Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2024
  • While Kyte Baby’s actions appear to have been legal, its handling of the employee’s request seems to have hit a nerve with its customer base of parents — including some with preemies of their own.
    Maham Javaid, Washington Post, 24 Jan. 2024
  • But more seasoned journalists in the newsroom congratulated me on writing something that hit a nerve.
    Joan Meiners, The Arizona Republic, 24 Aug. 2022
  • Something about the teen drama with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey hit a nerve—especially that dance lift, which has developed a mystique of its own—and has continued to enchant audiences all these years.
    Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, 17 May 2022
  • But the pipes strike a nerve, particularly in Skid Row, home to as many as 1,500 homeless people with substance abuse disorder, and a wide array of drug recovery and prevention groups that serve homeless people throughout the city.
    Elvia Limón, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2023
  • The experience of the phantom disc hit a nerve with journalists and the public who too often face what seem like ridiculous hurdles gaining access to government records to better understand what our government is doing.
    Jennifer Peebles, ajc, 18 Mar. 2022
  • The case has hit a nerve in Italy, where chauvinistic attitudes remain deeply rooted at all levels of society, heightening the challenges of addressing violence against women.
    Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hit/strike/touch a nerve.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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