[angk-shuh
s, ang-] 
| 1. | full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried; solicitous: Her parents were anxious about her poor health. |
| 2. | earnestly desirous; eager (usually fol. by an infinitive or for): anxious to please; anxious for our happiness. |
| 3. | attended with or showing solicitude or uneasiness: anxious forebodings. |
| anx·ious (āngk'shəs, āng'shəs) adj.
[From Latin ānxius, from angere, to torment; see angh- in Indo-European roots.] anx'ious·ly adv., anx'ious·ness n. Usage Note: Anxious has a long history of use roughly as a synonym for eager, but many prefer that anxious be used only when its subject is worried or uneasy about the anticipated event. In the traditional view, one may say We are anxious to see the strike settled soon but not We are anxious to see the new show of British sculpture at the museum. Fifty-two percent of the Usage Panel rejects anxious in the latter sentence. But general adoption of anxious to mean "eager" is understandable, at least in colloquial discourse, since it provides a means of adding emotional urgency to an assertion. It implies that the subject so strongly desires a certain outcome that frustration of that desire will lead to unhappiness. In this way, it resembles the informal adjective dying in sentences such as I'm dying to see your new baby. |