anxious
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæŋ(k)ʃəs/
ipa: /ˈæŋ(k).ʃəs/
note: with pre-/ŋ/ tensing
ipa: /ˈeɪŋ(k).ʃəs/
Forms: form: more anxious
form: anxiouser
form: most anxious
form: anxiousest
form: anctious
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin anxius, from angō (“to cause pain, choke”); akin to Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “to choke”). See anger; angst.
Senses: glosses: Nervous and worried.
examples: text: She was anxious to hear how her test results were.
text: I could tell she was anxious as she was biting her nails.
text: Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0056:
text: Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: But, with United fans in celebratory mood as it appeared their team might snatch glory, they faced an anxious wait as City equalised in stoppage time.
ref: 2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Having a feeling of anxiety or disquietude; extremely concerned, especially about something that will happen in the future or that is unknown.
examples: text: anxious labor
text: There was an anxious wait before the results were revealed.
text: The sweet of life, from which God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying.
raw_tags: of things
examples: text: He is anxious to please, so you can count on him.
text: All the voters were anxious to hear the election result.
text: He sneers alike at those who are anxious to preserve and at those who are eager for reform.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter II, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
glosses: Earnestly desirous.
Synonyms: sense: nervous and worried
word: uneasy
sense: nervous and worried
word: worrisome
sense: nervous and worried
word: unquiet
sense: nervous and worried
word: concerned
sense: nervous and worried
word: fraught
sense: extremely concerned (about the future)
word: angstful
sense: extremely concerned (about the future)
word: disturbed
sense: extremely concerned (about the future)
word: restless
sense: extremely concerned (about the future)
word: solicitous
sense: extremely concerned (about the future)
word: worrisome
sense: causing anxiety
word: restless
sense: causing anxiety
word: uneasy
sense: causing anxiety
word: worrisome
sense: causing anxiety
word: unquiet
sense: causing anxiety
word: nerve-wracking
sense: earnestly desirous
word: restless
sense: earnestly desirous
word: solicitous
Derived terms: anxious bench
anxiously
anxiousness
anxom
hyperanxious
hypoanxious
nonanxious
overanxious
unanxious
underanxious