nail-biting

1. 1.

   (of a situation) characterized by or causing suspense

   Synonymscliff-hangingsuspensefulsuspensive

   Similartense

Questions about nail-biting

What does nail-biting mean?

nail-biting means "(of a situation) characterized by or causing suspense".

How many syllables are in nail-biting?

nail-biting has 3 syllables: nail--bi-ting. The stress falls on "nail-".

What is another word for nail-biting?

Close synonyms include cliff-hanging, suspenseful, suspensive. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is nail-biting a common word?

nail-biting is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.