Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Uneasy and apprehensive about an uncertain event or matter; worried.
  • adjective Attended with, showing, or causing anxiety.
  • adjective Usage Problem Eagerly or earnestly desirous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Full of anxiety or solicitude; greatly troubled or solicitous, especially about something future or unknown; being in painful suspense: applied to persons.
  • Attended with, proceeding from, or manifesting solicitude or uneasiness: applied to things: as, anxious forebodings; anxious labor.
  • Earnestly desirous or solicitous: as, anxious to please; anxious to do right.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Full of anxiety or disquietude; greatly concerned or solicitous, esp. respecting something future or unknown; being in painful suspense; -- applied to persons.
  • adjective Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying; -- applied to things.
  • adjective Earnestly desirous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Full of anxiety or disquietude; greatly concerned or solicitous, especially respecting something future or unknown; being in painful suspense;—applied to persons; as, anxious for the issue of a battle.
  • adjective Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying;—applied to things; as, anxious labor.
  • adjective Earnestly desirous; as, anxious to please.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective eagerly desirous
  • adjective causing or fraught with or showing anxiety

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin ānxius, from angere, to torment; see angh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French *anxios, Latin anxius, from angō ("to cause pain, choke"); akin to Ancient Greek ἄγχειν ('a`gchein, "to choke"). See anger.

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Examples

  • Jack had pulled the van up against the curb and was sitting in the passenger seat, his expression anxious, his cell phone in his hand, and a wide-eyed Eerie in his lap.

    Etched in Bone Adrian Phoenix 2011

  • Jack had pulled the van up against the curb and was sitting in the passenger seat, his expression anxious, his cell phone in his hand, and a wide-eyed Eerie in his lap.

    Etched in Bone Adrian Phoenix 2011

  • Jack had pulled the van up against the curb and was sitting in the passenger seat, his expression anxious, his cell phone in his hand, and a wide-eyed Eerie in his lap.

    Etched in Bone Adrian Phoenix 2011

  • Jack had pulled the van up against the curb and was sitting in the passenger seat, his expression anxious, his cell phone in his hand, and a wide-eyed Eerie in his lap.

    Etched in Bone Adrian Phoenix 2011

  • Katie stepped in front of Britt, her expression anxious.

    The Flower Man Donna Anders 1995

  • Katie leaned across the seat, her expression anxious.

    The Flower Man Donna Anders 1995

  • It gives us the English word "anxious", signalling a place that presses against you, where the walls are tight, and you might be too big to get through.

    New Scientist - Online News 2009

  • “The door’s locked,” zh’Thiin said, her expression anxious as she regarded him, “but I don’t know how long it will keep them out.”

    Star Trek: Typhon Pact Paths of Disharmony Dayton Ward 2011

  • “The door’s locked,” zh’Thiin said, her expression anxious as she regarded him, “but I don’t know how long it will keep them out.”

    Star Trek: Typhon Pact Paths of Disharmony Dayton Ward 2011

  • The 33 miners, all of whom had spent the past 12 hours in anxious vigil gathered at the section of the tunnel where the drill bit entered, celebrated.

    Chilean miners closer to freedom with rescue tunnel complete Jonathan Franklin 2010

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