What does "restlessness" mean?

The state or condition of being restless; an inability to be still, quiet, at peace or comfortable.

What is a synonym for "restlessness"?

Common synonyms include: activity, actuation, ado, agitation, ailment, alertness.

Pronounced //ˈɹɛstləsnəs//.

//ˈɹɛstləsnəs// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Noun

1
The state or condition of being restless; an inability to be still, quiet, at peace or comfortable. uncountable, usually
"She sat and fidgeted out of restlessness as she waited."
2
inability to rest or relax or be still wordnet
3
the quality of being ceaselessly moving or active wordnet
4
a feeling of agitation expressed in continual motion wordnet
5
a lack of patience; irritation with anything that causes delay wordnet

"His restlessness gave her a hint that something was wrong."

From restless + -ness.

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