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Showing results for angst.
Synonyms

angst

American  
[ahngkst, angst] / ɑŋkst, æŋst /

noun

  1. a feeling of dread, anxiety, or anguish.

angst British  
/ æŋst, aŋst /

noun

  1. an acute but nonspecific sense of anxiety or remorse

  2. (in Existentialist philosophy) the dread caused by man's awareness that his future is not determined but must be freely chosen

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
angst Cultural  

  1. A kind of fear or anxiety; Angst is German for “fear.” It is usually applied to a deep and essentially philosophical anxiety about the world in general or personal freedom. (See existentialism.)

Other Word Forms

  • angsty adjective

Etymology

Origin of angst

First recorded in 1840–50; from German Angst “fear, anxiety,” Old High German angust (cognate with Middle Low German angest, Middle Dutch anxt ), from ang- (akin to eng “narrow, constricted”) + -st, abstract noun suffix

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.

Steyer, who has a net worth of $2.4 billion according to Forbes, has painted himself as a reformed billionaire who walked away from Farallon because of angst about how he earned his fortune.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026

As the Times’ polling guru Nate Cohn put it, the survey revealed deep angst about being able to meet “the rising price of entry for a middle-class life.”

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

Leadership angst remains, and could come roaring back in May.

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026

“Genius and Anxiety,” Norman Lebrecht’s shrewd title for his 2019 study of angst and Jewish achievement, could just as easily apply to a study of Goldman.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

Many experience an existential angst associated with their permanent social exclusion.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

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.