adjective
Other Word 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.
He was worried the jabs might not work.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Attention is on whether the Bank of Japan will move to raise rates at its September policy meeting, with policymakers increasingly worried that inflation could run above the bank’s 2% target.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Also, although there is little official data on this, some experts are worried men using them are not talking about it, either with their GP or publicly.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Tonsianus said he was "very worried" about aftershocks and about his mother and other patients having to sleep outside.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
He worried about gossip, “I was unwilling to call upon you to.night for fear of talk.”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
