inquietude

American  

[in-kwahy-i-tood, -tyood] / ɪnˈkwaɪ ɪˌtud, -ˌtyud /

noun

1. restlessness or uneasiness; disquietude.

2. inquietudes, disquieting thoughts.

   beset by myriad inquietudes.

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inquietude British  

/ ɪnˈkwaɪət, ɪnˈkwaɪɪˌtjuːd /

noun

1. restlessness, uneasiness, or anxiety

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Other Word Forms

• inquiet
  adjective
• inquietly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of inquietude

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English word from Late Latin word inquiētūdō. See in- ³, quietude

Explanation

When you feel upset, restless, or anxious, you have a sense of inquietude. If you're worried about a friend driving home in the snow, your inquietude won't let you relax until you hear that she's arrived safely. The feelings of unease or fretfulness that go along with inquietude might come from a fear of heights, worry about someone you love, or general anxiety. This noun comes from the Latin inquietus, "not quiet." Interestingly, the adjective version of this word isn't inquiet, which isn't a real word — instead it's unquiet, meaning "restless or anxious."

Example Sentences

Inquietude for my own safety was, for a moment, suspended by sympathy with your distress.

From Wieland: or, the Transformation, an American Tale by Brown, Charles Brockden

She found not in her Heart that cruel Constancy she thought there so well established: She felt Pains and Inquietude, shed Tears, made Wishes; and, in fine, discover’d that she lov’d.

From The Works of Aphra Behn Volume V by Summers, Montague

This Medicine, a Coffee-Cup of which may be given every four Hours, allayed the great Inquietude and Agitation of the Patient; and brought on a very plentiful Sweat, on which all the Symptoms vanished.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)

I have seen some Patients, in whom the Complaint of the Throat disappeared entirely, without either Eruptions or Sweats: but such still remained in very great Inquietude and Anguish, with a quick and small Pulse.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)

Inquietude, in-kwī′et-ūd, n. disturbance or uneasiness of body or mind.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various