restless

[rest-lis]

adjective

1. characterized by or showing inability to remain at rest.

   a restless mood.

   Synonyms: fretful, agitated, restive

2. unquiet or uneasy, as a person, the mind, or the heart.

   Synonyms: fretful, agitated, restive

3. never at rest; perpetually agitated or in motion.

   the restless sea.

   Synonyms: fretful, agitated, restive

4. without rest; without restful sleep.

   a restless night.

5. unceasingly active; averse to quiet or inaction, as persons.

   a restless crowd.

restless

/ ˈrɛstlɪs /

adjective

1. unable to stay still or quiet

2. ceaselessly active or moving

   the restless wind

3. worried; anxious; uneasy

4. not restful; without repose

   a restless night

Other Word Forms

• restlessly adverb
• restlessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of restless¹

First recorded before before 1000; Middle English restles, Old English restlēas; rest ¹, -less

Example Sentences

Against that backdrop, Labour MPs are increasingly restless.

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Xi Jinping, presiding over the world’s second-largest economy, has shown the opposite: that prosperity alone cannot satisfy what St. Augustine called humanity’s “restless heart.”

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“What if Nansi gets restless and decides to start his ritual a little early? We have to take the fight to him.”

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Unable to sit still, she wandered the halls like a restless ghost.

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She tossed and turned and drifted in and out of strange, restless dreams about a guidebook.

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Related Words

• agitated 
• anxious 
• disturbed 
• edgy 
• fidgety 
• itchy 
• nervous 
• restive 
• sleepless 
• troubled www.thesaurus.com
• uneasy 
• unruly 
• unsettled