adjective
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causing worry; vexing
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tending to worry
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of worrisome
Explanation
If something is worrisome, it bothers or upsets you. Your nervous dog may find the sound of thunder extremely worrisome. When the news reports are full of worrisome developments — crime, climate change, local budget cuts — it can be reassuring to hear some good news, which is why many news broadcasts also include feel-good stories about lost pets reunited with their owners and kids raising money for the local library. Worrisome things do just what you'd think: they make you worry. This word first appeared around 1820 in North America, and it's been used ever since for things that cause distress.
Vocabulary lists containing worrisome
-some
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Vocabulary from Readings 1, Unit 1
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English Language Development Texts, Unit 3
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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.
It’s a bit more dangerous than having a baby at a younger age, but not drastically more worrisome.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
Even more worrisome was his reputation as a “loose cannon and control freak.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Is there anything more worrisome about today’s tech titans than the fact that they present as abundance-minded optimists but in actuality are gluttonous, scorched-earth pessimists?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
"If we believe that 'artificial' already encourages fear, 'super' seems like something far more worrisome," said Dube, calling it "a poor choice of new brand."
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
There was a whiff of horse, and something far more worrisome than that.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
