Dictionary / anxious
anxious
- adjective
- from Latin
Nervous and worried.
1 All current definitions
Every sense of “anxious” in current use, as recorded by Wiktionary. Older and obsolete senses are kept separately.
adjective
- Nervous and worried.
- Having a feeling of anxiety or disquietude; extremely concerned, especially about something that will happen in the future or that is unknown.
She was anxious to hear how her test results were.
- Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying.
anxious labor
- Earnestly desirous.
He is anxious to please, so you can count on him.
Cross-check: WordNet senses (2)
- adjectiveeagerly desirous — also: dying
- adjectivecausing or fraught with or showing anxiety — also: nervous, queasy, uneasy, unquiet
Synonyms: uneasy, worrisome, unquiet, concerned, fraught, angstful, disturbed, restless, solicitous, nerve-wracking
2 History of the word
The etymology, the path the word travelled, and the words built from it.
The word’s journey, newest to oldest:
- English (today)anxious
- Latinanxius
- Latinangō “to cause pain, choke”
Borrowed from Latin anxius, from angō (“to cause pain, choke”); akin to Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “to choke”). See anger; angst. The suffix has been influenced by unrelated -ous.
Derivatives — words built from “anxious”
Phrases & compounds
Want to go deeper? See also “anxious” on Etymonline ↗
3 Original language
Where “anxious” came from before it was English.
4 Original meaning
What the word meant at the oldest point the record reaches.
Historical meaning — Webster’s 1913
A historical record, labelled as such: some of these senses are dated or have since shifted.
anxious a. [L. anxius, fr. angere to cause pain, choke; akin to Gr. 'a`gchein to choke. See Anger.]
- Full of anxiety or disquietude; greatly concerned or solicitous, esp. respecting something future or unknown; being in painful suspense; -- applied to persons; as, anxious for the issue of a battle.
- Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying; -- applied to things; as, anxious labor.
- Earnestly desirous; as, anxious to please.
5 Use it with confidence
Model sentences from the sources, matched to the meaning they show. Read each one aloud, then make your own in the game.
adjectiveMeaning: Having a feeling of anxiety or disquietude; extremely concerned, especially about something that will happen in the future or that is unknown.
She was anxious to hear how her test results were.
I could tell she was anxious as she was biting her nails.
adjectiveMeaning: Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying.
anxious labor
There was an anxious wait before the results were revealed.
adjectiveMeaning: Earnestly desirous.
He is anxious to please, so you can count on him.
All the voters were anxious to hear the election result.
adjectiveMeaning: eagerly desirous
anxious to see the new show at the museum
adjectiveMeaning: causing or fraught with or showing anxiety
spent an anxious night waiting for the test results
cast anxious glances behind her
Three steps to owning it
- Pick one meaning above and read its model sentence out loud.
- Say who or what the word is about in your own life, then build a sentence around that.
- Check it against the definition: would a careful reader understand exactly that meaning?
6 The mastery game
Play it here, or print it and do it with pen and paper. At the end you will know the meanings, history, origin and original meaning — and you will have used the word yourself.
Say it, then spell it
anxious
/ˈæŋkʃəs/ · an·xious
Say the word out loud three times, slowly. Notice the stressed syllable. When you are ready, hide it and spell it from memory.
Activate Words · Word-mastery worksheet · Name: ______________________ Date: __________
anxious
/ˈæŋkʃəs/ · an·xious · adjective
Step 1 — Say it and write it
Say “anxious” out loud three times. Then cover the word and write it three times from memory.
Step 2 — Know every meaning
Read each definition. Then write it again in your own words.
Step 3 — Which meaning is it?
“She was anxious to hear how her test results were.”
Circle the meaning used.
“anxious labor”
Circle the meaning used.
“He is anxious to please, so you can count on him.”
Circle the meaning used.
Step 4 — History and origin
Write the word’s journey back in time (each language and form):
Write three words built from “anxious” and what each means:
Step 5 — Original meaning
The earliest traceable form is Latin angō. What did it mean?
How does that original meaning connect to the meanings today?
Step 6 — Use it yourself
☐ I can explain its meanings ☐ I know its history ☐ I know its original language ☐ I know its original meaning ☐ I can use it confidently
Answer key — anxious
Which meaning, sentence 1: A. Having a feeling of anxiety or disquietude; extremely concerned, especially about something that will happen in the future or that is unknown.
Which meaning, sentence 2: B. Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying.
Which meaning, sentence 3: A. Earnestly desirous.
Origin: A. Latin (Latin anxius)
Journey: English anxious ← Latin anxius ← Latin angō
Some derivatives: anxiously, anxiousness, anxom, hyperanxious, hypoanxious, nonanxious, overanxious, unanxious
Original meaning: Latin angō — “to cause pain, choke”
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin anxius, from angō (“to cause pain, choke”); akin to Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “to choke”). See anger; angst. The suffix has been influenced by unrelated -ous.
Sources: Wiktionary “anxious” (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anxious#English), CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org; Princeton WordNet 3.0; Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913, public domain) via GCIDE. Worksheet from https://activatewords.com/w/anxious