adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of worried
Explanation
The adjective worried describes someone who's uneasy or troubled about something. Imagine worried parents, up late, waiting for their teenager to arrive home from a party. Someone with a worried frown on his face always seems concerned. A worried email to your cousin who's traveling in the Middle East expresses your concern for her safety. The root of worried is the Old English word wyrgan, or strangle. It wasn't until the late 1800s that worried was used to describe feeling anxiety.
Vocabulary lists containing worried
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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.
“I was worried the neighbors would complain,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
He’s also worried about how levered exchange-traded funds, particularly those based on single stocks, could cause problems for markets.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 10, 2026
Experts aren’t too worried that SpaceX is going to upstage Anthropic and OpenAI.
From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026
The client is worried about selling SpaceX too early and is reluctant.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
“I know how important your locs were to you. Are you okay?” she asks, worried.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
