Crossword clues for anxious
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Anxious \Anx"ious\ ([a^][ng]k"sh[u^]s), 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.
The sweet of life, from which God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares.
--Milton. -
Earnestly desirous; as, anxious to please.
He sneers alike at those who are anxious to preserve and at those who are eager for reform.
--Macaulay.Note: Anxious is followed by for, about, concerning, etc., before the object of solicitude.
Syn: Solicitous; careful; uneasy; unquiet; restless; concerned; disturbed; watchful.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1620s, from Latin anxius "solicitous, uneasy, troubled in mind" (also "causing anxiety, troublesome"), from angere, anguere "choke, squeeze," figuratively "torment, cause distress" (see anger (v.)). The same image is in Serbo-Croatian tjeskoba "anxiety," literally "tightness, narrowness." Related: Anxiously; anxiousness.
Wiktionary
a. 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.
WordNet
adj. mentally upset over possible misfortune or danger etc; worried; "anxious parents"; "anxious about her job"; "not used to a city and anxious about small things"; "felt apprehensive about the consequences" [syn: apprehensive]
eagerly desirous; "anxious to see the new show at the museum"; "dying to hear who won" [syn: anxious(p), dying(p)]
causing or fraught with or showing anxiety; "spent an anxious night waiting for the test results"; "cast anxious glances behind her"; "those nervous moments before takeoff"; "an unquiet mind" [syn: nervous, uneasy, unquiet]
Usage examples of "anxious".
So, though Rosemary West may have physically abused him, neither she nor her husband were anxious to relinquish Steven McAvoy once he was in her hands.
I told her to keep quiet, but, being anxious not to frighten her, I dared not acquaint her with the danger we were running.
In the mean time, let me tell you what you are not acquainted with, and what you must be anxious to know.
The debate continued by adjournment up to Thursday the 28th of May, most of the peers being anxious to deliver their sentiments on this great subject.
Paul had hurried to the side of the aeronaut, who raised his hand in greeting, while a smile broke over his anxious face.
All at once the group opened up a bit and they saw a silvery, glittering aeroplane, agleam with new aluminum paint, throbbing and vibrating, as if anxious to be off.
Campion, ever anxious to be affable, smiled wryly round his handkerchief.
In the mean time Father Agaric, who managed his big school for young nobles, followed events with anxious attention.
Petersburg as to the meaning of that invasion, and it received the answer that Russia felt compelled to come to the rescue of the Ameer at his request, for the Afghan ruler was anxious for his independence, in view of the measures which were taken by England.
Steadfast Joaquin, anxious Ling, inscrutable Ament, all looking to him for a deliverance, and a happy ending it was not within his power to deliver.
I waited before the fire in the antechamber, anxious for news, wondering what Keir was going to do.
Physically present in their holographic midst, the elected representatives of the Arachnos, Sectae and Herculeans moved with anxious precision.
So, since the doctor is always anxious to accommodate those under his care, he has arst me to take you to visit him.
The greatest number of them disdained to have recourse to a denial, and seemed less anxious for the preservation of their own lives than for the honour of the cause in which they had embarked, not with the view of assassination, as had been demonstrated, but for the purpose of ascertaining the true state of the public feeling, which had been represented by some factious intriguers as favourable to the Bourbons.
He was lunching with Frederick Zern and other stockholders interested in the Aureole Mine, and was anxious to hear their opinions.