anxiety

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noun, plural anx·i·e·ties.

distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune: He felt anxiety about the possible loss of his job.

earnest but tense desire; eagerness: He had a keen anxiety to succeed in his work.

Psychiatry. a state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring in some forms of mental disorder.

Origin:
1515–25; < Latin anxietās, equivalent to anxi(us) anxious + -etās, variant of -itās before a vowel

Synonyms
1. fear, foreboding; worry, disquiet. See apprehension.

Antonyms
1. certainty, serenity, tranquillity.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

anxiety (æŋˈzaɪɪtɪ)

—n , pl -ties
1.	a state of uneasiness or tension caused by apprehension of possible future misfortune, danger, etc; worry
2.	intense desire; eagerness
3.	psychol See also angst a state of intense apprehension or worry often accompanied by physical symptoms such as shaking, intense feelings in the gut, etc, common in mental illness or after a very distressing experience

[C16: from Latin anxietas; see anxious]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

anxiety

1520s, from L. anxietatem (nom. anxietas), noun of quality from anxius (see anxious). Psychiatric use dates to 1904.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

anxiety anx·i·e·ty (āng-zī'ĭ-tē)
n.

A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties.
A cause of anxiety.
A state of intense apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation, often to a degree that normal physical and psychological functioning is disrupted.
Eager, often agitated desire.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage

Science Dictionary

anxiety

(āng-zī'ĭ-tē) Pronunciation Key
A state of apprehension and fear resulting from the anticipation of a threatening event or situation. ◇ In psychiatry, a patient has an anxiety disorder ◇ if normal psychological functioning is disrupted or if anxiety persists without an identifiable cause.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

anxiety definition

Emotional distress, especially that brought on by fear of failure. (See also angst.)

Example sentences

But they controlled for worry and generalized anxiety in order to isolate

specific anxiety about feeling anxious.

Apathy, anxiety or snobbishness frequently seem to have more to do with the

choice than careful exploration or calm reasoning.

Study casts new light on the brain mechanisms behind recurrent bouts of intense

anxiety.

Symptoms include depression, anxiety, paranoia and trouble sleeping.

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Matching Quote

"As for the peasant populations of a great part of the world, they aren't so much anxious as hungry. They aren't anxious about whether they will get a salary raise, or which of the three colleges of their choice they will be admitted to, or whether to buy a Ford or Cadillac, or whether the kind of TV set they want is too expensive. They are hungry, cold and, in many parts of the world, they dread that local warfare, bandits, political coups may endanger their homes, their meager livelihoods and their lives. But surely they are not anxious. For anxiety, as we have come to use it to describe our characteristic state of mind, can be contrasted with the active fear of hunger, loss, violence and death. Anxiety is the appropriate emotion when the immediate personal terror—of a volcano, an arrow, the sorcerer's spell, a stab in the back and other calamities, all directed against one's self—disappears."

-Margaret Mead