adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a complete nervous breakdown
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He had a complete nervous after leaving university.
a nervous giggle
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She gave a nervous giggle before answering.
a nervous glance
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He shot a nervous glance at his wife.
a nervous laugh
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‘Don’t be silly,’ she said with a nervous laugh.
artistic/nervous/good etc temperament
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Jill has such a lovely relaxed temperament.
be heading for a nervous breakdown (= be likely to suffer one soon )
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She should slow down a bit - I think she's heading for a nervous breakdown.
be on the verge/edge of a nervous breakdown (= to be very close to having a nervous breakdown )
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These events left her on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
central nervous system
have a nervous breakdown
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My mother had a nervous breakdown after my father's death.
nervous energy (= energy that comes from being nervous or excited )
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She seems to thrive on nervous energy.
nervous exhaustion (= when you become ill because you have been working too hard or have been very worried )
nervous laughter (= because someone is nervous and not sure how to react )
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Nervous laughter greeted her remarks.
nervous system
nervous tension
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The night before the wedding my mother was in a state of nervous tension.
nervous/emotional wreck
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The attack had left her an emotional wreck.
nervous/restless excitement (= a feeling of being worried and unable to relax )
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My nervous excitement increased with each passing minute.
of a nervous/sociable/sensitive etc disposition (= having a nervous etc character )
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The film is not suitable for people of a nervous disposition.
on the verge of a nervous breakdown
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an event which left her on the verge of a nervous breakdown
sb’s digestive/reproductive/nervous system (= in someone’s body )
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These vitamins are essential for a healthy nervous system.
suffer a nervous breakdown
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At university, Jan suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated for depression.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
as
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They were as nervous as we were.
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Retail sales have fallen by about half in recent weeks as nervous consumers rein in spending.
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Was she going to be as nervous as this for the rest of their stay?
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I wasn't nearly as nervous as I had been the other times, even though the audience was twice the size.
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Hurrying back to the site, she had felt as nervous as a teenager going on her first date.
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Though this was only a preliminary, hypothetical run-through, she felt as nervous as a bride at a wedding rehearsal.
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The question is, how did these people come to see themselves primarily as nervous and only secondarily as hungry, malnourished?
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I may say I was almost as nervous as any of my students at this point.
more
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Why should that make him even more nervous ?
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But he quickened the tempo of our lives, left us more nervous , speedy, irritable.
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John and Malc watched hours of rehearsals from the stalls of the Palladium, both becoming more nervous by the second.
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She knew that if she didn't speak Carla would get more and more nervous , eventually breaking the heavy silence herself.
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I seem to be more nervous in that way than I once was.
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I try to encourage them by saying it is my material they are using, which sometimes makes the person more nervous !
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The patrols around the perimeter seemed more nervous and aggressive.
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Standing outside I was getting more and more nervous .
so
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Gravellier felt nervous , so nervous he'd been unable to eat any breakfast.
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Aileen was so nervous that her whole body was bobbing up and down as she chewed gum.
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It wasn't the possibility of Louis learning of their presence in the town that was making her so nervous .
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I was so nervous that night.
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The international banking community was so nervous that for a while no forward foreign exchange markets operated properly anywhere.
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I was so nervous I locked the keys inside my car.
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I remember Shostakovich was so nervous but at the same time so impressed.
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The imposing figure made them so nervous that they forgot to recite the statements they had carefully rehearsed the night before.
too
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We had been too nervous to arrive after dark.
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Dave Tanner was a bit too nervous for a man on his own territory.
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I was too nervous to putt well.
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I'd been too nervous to eat breakfast in the hotel and it was now 10.30am and I was starving.
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Both seem too nervous to survive, even just college.
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It had begun exploding when you lit the back burners, and Mrs Hooper was getting too nervous to touch it.
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Tobie was just five years old-too small and pale for her age, too nervous from the parental arguments.
very
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I stood by the door feeling very nervous .
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Rod was very nervous having to do without his usual helicopter coverage.
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She was still very nervous , though Mrs. Castell knew to make a fuss of her.
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Some survive; those that do get very nervous , and understandably so.
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Female speaker Very excited, very nervous also but I am relly looking forward to it.
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Magruder and his inferior force very nervous .
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On the first evening the singers are always very nervous at having to perform before such a distinguished audience.
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Mr Dean talks like a very nervous man being questioned by the police and trying to carry it off.
■ NOUN
breakdown
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Popa, who had headed the Bucharest Military Court since 1987, was known to have suffered a nervous breakdown .
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Logan, who had had two nervous breakdowns , said that he would take the pills himself.
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His solicitor said he was suffering from an acute nervous breakdown .
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He said she acted erratic, got the shakes one evening and almost had a nervous breakdown .
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One needed to go on a crash diet, the other was in the middle of a nervous breakdown .
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So no one told him he was already heading for a complete nervous breakdown .
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They are almost three times as prone to nervous breakdowns .
condition
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Voice over Multiple Sclerosis is a nervous condition brought about by the destruction of blood vessels in the brain.
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Actual bodily harm need not be serious harm and it has been held to include a hysterical and nervous condition .
disorder
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Let us therefore assume that nervous disorders act as an intervening variable.
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There are wards for children with pulmonary disease and nervous disorders .
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In the first, nervous disorders are just an additional cause of absenteeism, but are unrelated to the type of job.
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In the second, nervous disorders have no effect on absenteeism, despite the fact that they are caused by poor jobs.
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Many of their colleagues are off work sick for long periods being treated for nervous disorders .
disposition
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She was of a nervous disposition , Miss Kilspindie.
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And any such aberration includes a nervous disposition toward children.
energy
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There, often with Susan Einzig as his partner, his nervous energy became concentrated, dervish-like, into a trance-like state.
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During contests he was as jumpy as a schoolgirl and gave off a static charge of nervous energy .
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She felt elated and furious, and trembled with nervous energy .
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The world might end at any moment; the illustrations of ninth-century Apocalypses are charged with innovation and nervous energy .
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He's been living on his reserves of nervous energy for the past couple of weeks.
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She was exhausting company, not because she argued but because there was a constant play of restless nervous energy in her.
exhaustion
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Yet it s a one-joke play that teases out its central idea to the point of nervous exhaustion .
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Behind dosed doors Diana cried her eyes out with nervous exhaustion .
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A week later he wrote to apologise to all six, putting his behaviour down to nervous exhaustion .
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Nor could they show her nervous exhaustion , her permanent anxiety for her loved ones, her acute worry about tomorrow.
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This probably exacerbated his tendency to long periods of nervous exhaustion , which caused his absence from his parish while he recovered.
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Their company seemed to drain me and send me into a state of nervous exhaustion after even a short while.
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Most of the others were suffering from a degree of nervous exhaustion after the long takeover struggle.
glance
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Sweeping a nervous glance around the dark garden, Loretta joined them in Puddephat's sitting-room.
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She must not let a nervous glance betray her.
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The girls exchanged nervous glances , thinking that it must be Miss Hardbroom come to reprimand them for being out of bed.
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She sat down again beside Dauntless, casting him nervous glances .
laugh
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The humour was heavy-handed and, in response to Simon Franks' nervous laugh , Blanche smiled politely.
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Marie said with a nervous laugh as she gave him a dime.
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A nervous laugh , because she was beginning to feel uneasy.
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She was a shy, quiet woman in her mid-twenties with a tinkling nervous laugh .
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The silence that followed was finally broken by a nervous laugh from one of the men-at-arms.
smile
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She glanced at her brother sitting beside her and managed a weak, nervous smile .
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She smiled slightly, a nervous smile that held kindliness.
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The man, middle-aged, wearing a suit, complied with a nervous smile .
strain
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It could not be true that nervous strain made you lose weight.
system
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Even amongst those organisms with well-coordinated nervous systems , a good case can be made for the dominance of beetles over mammals.
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All these are degenerative diseases of the central nervous system .
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This poison apparently affects the nervous system .
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By reflex action - a mechanism of the nervous system - the threatened hand is instantly withdrawn and the threatened eye closed.
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Images serve as cues stimulating the nervous system , causing muscles to respond subconsciously.
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Other organisms show evidence for muscular activity and so presumably a nervous system , as well as the inferred presence of a circulatory system.
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Because alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, many people are under the impression that it improves sleep.
tension
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Walking will help you to sleep and is an antidote to stress, nervous tension and depression.
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The faster machines move the faster man lives and the bigger the tribute in nervous tension he pays to the machine.
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In the period leading up to the actual fight, first-time fighters are suddenly stricken with nervous tension .
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Passion flower is employed around the world as a mild sedative that reduces nervous tension and anxiety.
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In her state of extreme nervous tension she had clutched those dollars so tightly that they'd almost disintegrated.
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Others seem to hear your heartbeat and remain in a constant state of nervous tension .
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Up in the stand some one giggled with nervous tension .
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I didn't sleep the night before the exam because of nervous tension , however, so I didn't do very well.
twitch
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Constant activity can easily become an ineffectual nervous twitch .
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He had a nervous twitch and a speech impediment.
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He had a nervous twitch which jerked at a muscle at the corner of his thin-lipped mouth and a malevolent stare.
wreck
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Just the thing for a twitching little nervous wreck who keeps passing out on her dinner dates.
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By the time my friends left, l was a nervous wreck .
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Of course, we hardly needed to say, as we made our way upstairs, that we were both nervous wrecks .
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Apparently some of them nervous wrecks .
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It had to be learnt, if we were not to turn into nervous wrecks .
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She was a nervous wreck , and all that was wrong with the child was measles.
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At this rate she would go back to London a nervous wreck and have to resign.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
come over (all) shy/nervous etc
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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a nervous disorder
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a thin, nervous woman
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Bill looked nervous , and I could see his hands were shaking.
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Harry began to feel nervous again as the plane made its descent.
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I'm a little nervous about leaving the kids at home all alone.
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I'm always nervous before exams.
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I was so nervous about my exams that I couldn't sleep.
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It makes me nervous when you drive that fast.
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Jill's always been a little nervous of dogs.
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Kelli was so nervous about her exam that she couldn't sleep.
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Many investors are nervous about their investments after the recent drop in the stock market.
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Mr Darby was a mild, nervous man who seemed to expect people to ignore him.
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Mum gets nervous if we don't call to say we're late.
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People of a nervous disposition may be upset by some of the scenes in the following programme.
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Sanders reassured nervous students that loans would be available this fall.
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She's such a nervous child we don't like to leave her on her own.
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Stop tapping your feet! You're making me nervous .
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The sounds outside were making me feel nervous .
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The stage is huge, you know, and I walked out there, and I was real nervous .
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You know what makes me nervous ? When people drive really close behind you.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As soon as you make a nervous slip, he explodes with anger - humiliating you in front of colleagues.
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Doctors say the drug causes body temperatures to rise so high that the central nervous system shuts down.
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It became possible to test theories about nervous system functions.
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Skinheads, on the other hand, are nervous and twitchy.
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The basis of these unities does not seem to lie within the nervous system as it is currently conceived.
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We were always concerned, but never nervous .