Dictionary

touch a nerve en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

An allusion to the sharp sensation felt when a dentist or surgeon physically disturbs an exposed nerve.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response, especially an emotional response such as anxiety or annoyance, because it calls to mind something which has been a source of concern or embarrassment.
   • The president's supporters . . . are trying to exert greater control over universities, touching a nerve among an increasingly defiant student movement. 2007 November 8, Simon Romero, “Gunmen attack opponents of Chávez's bid to extend power”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2023, retrieved 30 Aug 2009:
   • The austerity of my tone seemed to touch a nerve and kindle the fire that always slept in this vermilion-headed menace to the common weal, for she frowned a displeased frown and told me for heaven's sake to stop goggling like a dead halibut. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 4, in Jeeves in the Offing:
   • Louis B. Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland Press, . . . banged out an editorial that raised uncomfortable questions about the state of the U.S. at a moment of world responsibility. His piece touched a nerve: in the following week, 1,000 people had tried to reach him by phone or written him letters or stopped him on the street to talk about it. 1951 August 27, “National Affairs: Right & Wrong”, in TIME, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2010:

Forms

Antonyms

strike a chord

Relateds

get on someone's nerves · rub someone the wrong way

Translations (9)

cmn 戳到痛處 /戳到痛处 (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · fr faire vibrer la corde sensible (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · ru заде́ть за живо́е (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · fi osua arkaan kohtaan (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · fi iskeä arkaan kohtaan (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · sv trampa på en öm tå (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · es dar en un nervio (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · nl een open zenuw raken (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response) · fr toucher la corde sensible (to make a remark or perform a deed which produces a strong response)