antsy
Americanadjective
-
unable to sit or stand still; fidgety.
The children were bored and antsy.
-
apprehensive, uneasy, or nervous.
I'm a little antsy since hearing those storm warnings.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of antsy
Explanation
If you're antsy, you're restless and fidgety. It's hard not to be antsy when you're waiting to learn whether or not you've been accepted to your first choice of colleges. An antsy kid, unable to sit still, might need to use the bathroom, and a worried parent is often antsy while she waits for her teenager to come home late at night. Antsy came first, in the 1830s, but the idea is similar to the 20th century expression "have ants in your pants." Imagine how you'd squirm if you actually did feel ants crawling around in your pants: figuratively, that's how it feels to be antsy.
Vocabulary lists containing antsy
Look Both Ways
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Popcorn
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Mississippi Trial, 1955
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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.
Experts generally advise people to wait to buy resale tickets, since prices often come down as sellers get antsy.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
The film’s persistent brittleness may make some viewers antsy.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2025
Major reactions to relatively minor events show that shareholders are getting antsy as AI investment grows with little measurable return behind it.
From Barron's • Nov. 13, 2025
Still, Treasury holders are clearly not assuaged, and they’ve been antsy for years at this point.
From Slate • Apr. 11, 2025
I reveled in the news—and at the same time, I felt antsy to be directly involved with the show.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
