anxiety
Americannoun
-
distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune.
He felt anxiety about the possible loss of his job.
- Synonyms:
- disquiet, worry, foreboding, fear
- Antonyms:
- tranquility, serenity, certainty
-
earnest but tense desire; eagerness.
He had a keen anxiety to succeed in his work.
-
Psychiatry. a state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring in some forms of mental disorder.
noun
-
a state of uneasiness or tension caused by apprehension of possible future misfortune, danger, etc; worry
-
intense desire; eagerness
-
psychol a state of intense apprehension or worry often accompanied by physical symptoms such as shaking, intense feelings in the gut, etc, common in mental illness or after a very distressing experience See also angst
-
A state of apprehension and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation.
-
◆ In psychiatry, a patient has an anxiety disorder ◆ if normal psychological functioning is disrupted or if anxiety persists without an identifiable cause.
Synonym Usage
See apprehension.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of anxiety
First recorded in 1515–25; from Latin anxietās, equivalent to anxi(us) anxious + -etās, variant of -itās before a vowel
Compare meaning
How does anxiety compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Anxiety is the vague, uneasy feeling you get when you're dreading something. Anxiety can also be a permanent state of nervousness that some people with mental illnesses experience, a milder version of panic. When a scary or unpleasant event is looming, like getting a family portrait taken the year you have braces, you might feel some anxiety. You might also feel anxiety about passing chemistry, especially if you’ve skipped a lot of classes. Someone who suffers from a mild or severe mental illness might feel anxiety all the time. Deep breathing, playing relaxing music, and medication have all been known to help reduce anxiety.
Vocabulary lists containing anxiety
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 4
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"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Although none of the participants had a diagnosed mental health condition, the findings may offer clues about why psilocybin has shown therapeutic potential for depression, anxiety, and addiction.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Dhafiri said the daily strikes were "compounded by ongoing attacks on infrastructure, particularly power plants... creating anxiety and confusion in our daily life".
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
“This anxiety has gotten so bad it’s almost pathological,” said Wayne Tan, who teaches international relations at Taiwan’s National Chung Hsing University.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Your skills and the anxiety may both be transferable.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
Relief floods through me, as does a renewed anxiety that makes my legs feel mushy.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
U.S. stocks were mixed as investors kicked off the trading week with AI-bubble anxieties seemingly in the rear-view mirror.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
There were already long-term anxieties regarding rising AI capital expenditures and circular financing methods among the hyperscalers, according to Steve Hou, head of research at Silicon Data.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
An ancient sport offers the perfect antidote to the anxieties of pandemic-era American life, in more ways than one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
But anxieties about growing diversity and rising indifference had convinced many Americans of the need to enshrine Christianity in the Constitution.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
But his anxieties about class and status were so deep that he could not bear the thought that his own “intelligence” might merely be the by-product of privilege and opportunity.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
