anxious
Americanadjective
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full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried; apprehensive.
Her parents were anxious about her poor health.
- Synonyms:
- enthusiastic, solicitous, uneasy, fearful, disturbed, concerned
-
earnestly desirous; eager (usually followed by an infinitive orfor ): anxious for our happiness.
anxious to please;
anxious for our happiness.
-
attended with or showing solicitude or uneasiness.
anxious forebodings.
adjective
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worried and tense because of possible misfortune, danger, etc; uneasy
-
fraught with or causing anxiety; worrying; distressing
an anxious time
-
intensely desirous; eager
anxious for promotion
Other Word Forms
- anxiously adverb
- anxiousness noun
- quasi-anxious adjective
- unanxious adjective
Etymology
Origin of anxious
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin anxius “worried, distressed,” derivative of angere “to strangle, pain, distress”; anguish, -ous
Compare meaning
How does anxious compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
The question of whether larger enterprises will seek to replicate some of these efforts remains to be seen, but it is top of mind for anxious investors.
"It was nice to know that I wasn't going to be judged... I get very anxious, especially face to face," she says.
From BBC
The other teams filled in behind us, and I was a little relieved to see the same anxious expression on their faces that I’m sure was on my own.
From Literature
He said that EchoStar isn’t privy to SpaceX’s valuation and invested on “faith” in the company, adding: “I’m anxious to see if they do, in fact, do an IPO.”
From MarketWatch
This makes them anxious when interactions are unplanned and spontaneous, when they have to participate in high-stakes meetings and react to unexpected feedback and demands from the boss.
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.
