adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Nervous and worried.
2. 2
   Having a feeling of anxiety or disquietude; extremely concerned, especially about something that will happen in the future or that is unknown.

   "She was anxious to hear how her test results were."

3. 3
   Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying.

   "anxious labor"

4. 4
   Earnestly desirous.

   "He is anxious to please, so you can count on him."

Adjective

1. 1
   eagerly desirous wordnet
2. 2
   causing or fraught with or showing anxiety wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

carefulconcerneddisturbedeagerrestlesssolicitous

Antonyms

All antonyms

calmcarefreeeasyimperturbable

Example

More examples

"I have been anxious about your health."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin anxius, from angō (“to cause pain, choke”); akin to Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “to choke”). See anger; angst.

Related phrases

anxious bench

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.