anxiety
distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune: He felt anxiety about the possible loss of his job.
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.
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Origin of anxiety
1synonym study For anxiety
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use anxiety in a sentence
The book soon filled, its pages scrawled with stories of anxiety and depression.
If I was shown that it’s okay to talk about emotions and feel this way, then I probably wouldn’t have held in my anxiety for so long.
A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention | Amanat Khullar | September 15, 2020 | QuartzIn a phone interview, Quannah Chasing Horse Potts said she wants her mother to have peace after two years of anxiety and hopes that comes from her family reclaiming its story.
The Woman Propositioned by Alaska’s Former Lieutenant Governor Tells Her Story for the First Time | by Kyle Hopkins and Michelle Theriault Boots, Anchorage Daily News | September 10, 2020 | ProPublicaFear and anxiety are predictors of people — particularly young people — turning towards extremism and violence, said Miller-Idriss.
How Trump And COVID-19 Have Reshaped The Modern Militia Movement | Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux | September 4, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightThe challenge is that each of these communities may require a different strategy, have different underlying anxieties and fears, and require a slightly different intervention to placate their fears.
A third of Americans might refuse a Covid-19 vaccine. How screwed are we? | Brian Resnick | September 4, 2020 | Vox
Stephanie Giorgio, a classical musician, credits The Class for helping her cope with anxiety, focus, fear, and self-doubt.
How Taryn Toomey’s ‘The Class’ Became New York’s Latest Fitness Craze | Lizzie Crocker | January 9, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTDisordered eating is also linked to higher rates of depression and anxiety, both in the present and in the future.
How Skinny Is Too Skinny? Israel Bans ‘Underweight’ Models | Carrie Arnold | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTAnger often manifests in withholders as another self-destructive but more socially acceptable feeling or behavior, like anxiety.
For my technologically illiterate mother, the idea of paying bills online provokes as much anxiety as throwing something away.
Yet, in pursuit of that ‘great revival of art,’ his anxiety, depression, and overall health began to deteriorate.
Decoding Vincent Van Gogh’s Tempestuous, Fragile Mind | Nick Mafi | December 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd now there was added to this devotion an element of indefinable anxiety which made its vigilance unceasing.
Ramona | Helen Hunt JacksonAt last his anxiety reached a point where he was positive that if he received an adverse decision, it would surely kill him.
The Homesteader | Oscar MicheauxThe fact that her fortune was vaguely threatened did not cause her anxiety: she scarcely realized it.
Hilda Lessways | Arnold BennettMurat was in no hurry to commence his reign, and his subjects showed no great anxiety to see their new ruler.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonEighteen hundred and fifty-one was a period of anxiety to the Midland and to railway companies generally.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland | Joseph Tatlow
British Dictionary definitions for anxiety
/ (æŋˈzaɪɪtɪ) /
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
Origin of anxiety
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for anxiety
[ ăng-zī′ĭ-tē ]
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for anxiety
Emotional distress, especially that brought on by fear of failure. (See also angst.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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