anxious
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
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[edit] English
Part or all of this page has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
[edit] Etymology
Latin anxius, from angere (“‘to cause pain, choke’”); akin to Greek 'a`gchein to choke. See anger.
[edit] Pronunciation
- (WEAE) IPA: /ˈæŋˈʃəs/
- Audio (US)help, file
[edit] Adjective
anxious (comparative more anxious, superlative most anxious)
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Positive |
Comparative |
Superlative |
- Full of anxiety or disquietude; greatly concerned or solicitous, esp. respecting something future or unknown; being in painful suspense;—applied to persons; as, anxious for the issue of a battle.
- Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying;—applied to things; as, anxious labor.
- The sweet of life, from which God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares. -- John Milton.
- Earnestly desirous; as, anxious to please.
- He sneers alike at those who are anxious to preserve and at those who are eager for reform. -- Thomas Babington Macaulay.
[edit] Usage notes
- Anxious is followed by for, about, concerning, etc., before the object of solicitude.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
full of anxiety
accompanied with anxiety
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earnestly desirous
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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[edit] External links
- anxious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- anxious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
