jumpy.

Unusually quick to startle or react nervously to small stimuli.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• feel jumpy
• make someone jumpy
• a jumpy response

On the page

The break-in had left him jumpy for weeks.

A tapping branch made the already jumpy children sit upright.

Why are you so jumpy whenever the phone rings?

Usage notes

Primary category: fear. Conversational; distinguishes sensitivity to triggers from general worried thought. A person can be jumpy without panicking. Comparative: jumpier; superlative: jumpiest. More/most jumpy are also possible. Derived family (not additional inflections or records): jumpiness.