Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web

concern

 - 4 dictionary results

con⋅cern

[kuhn-surn]
–verb (used with object)
1. to relate to; be connected with; be of interest or importance to; affect: The water shortage concerns us all.
2. to interest or engage (used reflexively or in the passive, often fol. by with or in): She concerns herself with every aspect of the business.
3. to trouble, worry, or disquiet: I am concerned about his health.
–noun
4. something that relates or pertains to a person; business; affair: Law is the concern of lawyers.
5. a matter that engages a person's attention, interest, or care, or that affects a person's welfare or happiness: The party was no concern of his.
6. worry, solicitude, or anxiety: to show concern for someone in trouble.
7. important relation or bearing: This news is of concern to all of us.
8. a commercial or manufacturing company or establishment: the headquarters of an insurance concern.
9. Informal. any material object or contrivance.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME concernen (< MF concerner) < ML concernere to relate to, distinguish (LL: to mix for sifting), equiv. to L con- con- + cernere to sift


1. touch, involve. 3. disturb. 5. burden, responsibility. Concern, care, worry connote an uneasy and burdened state of mind. Concern implies an anxious sense of interest in something: concern over a friend's misfortune. Care suggests a heaviness of spirit caused by dread, or by the constant pressure of burdensome demands: Poverty weighs a person down with care. Worry is an active state of agitated uneasiness and restless apprehension: He was distracted by worry over the stock market. 8. firm, house.


6. indifference.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To concern
con·cern   (kən-sûrn')   
v.   con·cerned, con·cern·ing, con·cerns

v.   tr.
  1. To have to do with or relate to: an article that concerns the plight of homeless people.

  2. To be of interest or importance to: This problem concerns all of us.

  3. To engage the attention of; involve: We concerned ourselves with accomplishing the task at hand.

  4. To cause anxiety or uneasiness in: The firm's weak financial posture is starting to concern its stockholders.

v.   intr. Obsolete
To be of importance.
n.  
  1. A matter that relates to or affects one. See Synonyms at affair.

  2. Regard for or interest in someone or something.

  3. A troubled or anxious state of mind arising from solicitude or interest. See Synonyms at anxiety.

  4. A business establishment or enterprise; a firm.

  5. A contrivance; a gadget.


[Middle English concernen, from Old French concerner, from Medieval Latin concernere, from Late Latin, to mingle together : Latin com-, com- + Latin cernere, to sift; see krei- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

concern 
c.1450, from M.L. concernere "concern, touch, belong to," figurative use of L.L. concernere "to sift, mix, as in a sieve," from L. com- "with" + cernere "to sift," hence "perceive, comprehend" (see crisis). Apparently the sense of the prefix shifted to intensive in M.L. Meaning of "relate to" is 16c.; "worry" is 17c. To whom it may concern first recorded 1868.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see concern on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us: