nerve-rack·ing or nerve-wrack·ing (nûrv?r?k??ng)adj. Intensely distressing or irritating to the nerves.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.nerve-racking or nerve-wrackingadjvery distressing, exhausting, or harrowingCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014nerve?-rack`ing or nerve?-wrack`ing, adj. producing great anxiety, tension, or irritation. [1805?15] Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.