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.
Unaware of the secret report but now anxious that he was under surveillance, Faqir saw Hala and her family one last time in Tartus later that summer.
Japan, which has little in the way of natural resources, has long been anxious about its dependence on energy imports, concerns amplified by events such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
I was most anxious about what I might see along the way.
From Los Angeles Times
Owner Redknapp faced an anxious wait before the ex-Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham manager could celebrate winning the Boxing Day showpiece.
From BBC
Matt: It’s the scene we spent the longest on this season because we were so anxious about it and getting it right.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
