All these terms imply a state of tension, anxiety or worry. Nervous and restless are probably the most general words, but, whereas nervous refers to an inward condition, restless suggests an outward manifestation of anxiety. A person can be inwardly nervous and outwardly calm, but if he is restless he shows it in such ways as shifting from one foot to the other, getting up and sitting down, or pacing the room. Restless may also be used figuratively, suggesting the free inquiring attitude of the scientist or the adventurer: a restless mind, never satisfied with easy generalizations; His restless spirit urged him on to ever greater feats. In this sense restless often has a somewhat strained rhetorical ring. Restless more usually describes a temporary condition called into play by a particular situation. A person may be nervous by disposition and not because of any particular anxiety: My mother is a nervous woman and always has been.

Edgy and jumpy both indicate an extremely nervous state, and are somewhat more informal than either nervous or restless . An edgy person is irritable and combative, ready to take offence at slight provocation, whereas a jumpy person is simply extremely nervous , literally ready to jump. In this sense jumpy is synonymous with on edge, although one is usually kept on edge waiting for important news, whereas one is jumpy because one compulsively anticipates being shocked or surprised.

• The day I start catching a cold I feel very edgy , ready to snap at everyone; We were kept on edge for weeks, waiting to hear from our son in Vietnam; The ex-serviceman still got a little jumpy whenever he heard a car back-firing.

Fidgety , more than the other words so far discussed, suggests nervous body movements, especially small aimless gestures with the hands. It thus simply refers to an outward sign of inward nervousness or apprehension: The fidgety professor played with his glasses as he lectured. The word usually applies to people who habitually fidget – fussy people, worriers.

Jittery , deriving from the slang expression "the jitters ," is also marked by a number of body movements, but jittery often suggests fright as well as nervousness. A jittery condition may be caused by a menacing or dangerous situation: The thieves became jittery when they heard the news bulletin describing them accurately in detail. Animals may be jittery as well as people: The horses became jittery upon smelling the smoke. Both jittery and fidgety carry connotations of restless but the movements involved are always quicker and sharper.

Excitable and flighty are alike in suggesting enduring temperamental qualities of human beings. Flighty implies an inability to keep one’s attention fixed in a level-headed manner on any one particular subject. The flighty person keeps skipping from subject to subject in a nervous, virtually random manner that suggests the flitting of a butterfly. It often indicates a shallow mind easily distracted by inconsequential events: The conversation of the women was so flighty that there was simply no way to discover what they were talking about. Flighty also has the sense of flirtatiousness and of quickly changing affections. An excitable person is one who is easily aroused to a high pitch of enthusiasm or emotion. Excitable may be applied to persons of either sex, but is usually confined to the young or inexperienced.

• He was of an excitable nature; at the slightest hint of criticism he would stamp out the door in a rage.

Uptight is a recent U.S. fad word for nervous . In its earlier slang use among jazz musicians, it referred to an opposite feeling of being so sure of oneself that one could play without sheet music. Through misunderstanding, the word now applies generally to someone who is tense, anxious or disturbed, either because of a specific problem or a nervous disposition: a crowd students who are uptight about police "brutality"; hippies who criticize the uptight world of their middle-class parents.