restless
Americanadjective
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characterized by or showing inability to remain at rest.
a restless mood.
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unquiet or uneasy, as a person, the mind, or the heart.
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never at rest; perpetually agitated or in motion.
the restless sea.
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without rest; without restful sleep.
a restless night.
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unceasingly active; averse to quiet or inaction, as persons.
a restless crowd.
adjective
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unable to stay still or quiet
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ceaselessly active or moving
the restless wind
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worried; anxious; uneasy
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not restful; without repose
a restless night
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of restless
First recorded before before 1000; Middle English restles, Old English restlēas; see rest 1, -less
Explanation
When you're restless, you find it hard to sit still or concentrate on anything. An audience often grows restless when they're waiting for the second act of a play to start and there's an unexpected delay. If you think of restless as "unable to rest or relax," you'll know exactly what it means. You might have a restless night if you can't fall asleep and spend hours tossing and turning. A bunch of elementary school kids listening to a boring speech will grow restless in a way that's hard to miss, since they're bound to be squirming in their seats.
Vocabulary lists containing restless
"The Civil Rights Movement"
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Vocabulary from "Community is the 'killer app' missing from virtual reality" by Dmitri Williams
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Don't Panic! Synonyms for "Stress"
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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.
Wearing her blue harness, this restless brown Labrador retriever ventures into the debris of buildings that collapsed in the earthquakes of June 24.
From Barron's • Jul. 5, 2026
On the republic’s 250th birthday, that is worth celebrating: not the government that governs us, but the restless, inventive, association-forming energy of the American people themselves.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 3, 2026
By depicting Oklahoma rez life through the eyes of the restless teenagers raised on movies that romanticize escaping home to find themselves, Harjo’s stories bubbled over with joy and ridiculousness.
From Salon • Jul. 1, 2026
The result, researchers found, was a “precipitous” rise in mental distress — including feeling worthless, hopeless, restless or nervous — concentrated among remote workers living alone.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 27, 2026
The famous story about Phineas says that after hanging around the Boston medical school for weeks, he grows bored and restless.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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.
