Crossword clues for restiveness
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Restive \Rest"ive\ (r?st"?v), a. [OF. restif, F. r['e]tif, fr. L. restare to stay back, withstand, resist. See Rest remainder, and cf. Restiff.] . Unwilling to go on; obstinate in refusing to move forward; stubborn; drawing back.
Restive or resty, drawing back, instead of going
forward, as some horses do.
--E. Philips
(1658).
The people remarked with awe and wonder that the beasts
which were to drag him [Abraham Holmes] to the gallows
became restive, and went back.
--Macaulay.
2. Inactive; sluggish. [Obs.]
--Sir T. Browne.
3. Impatient under coercion, chastisement, or opposition; refractory.
4. Uneasy; restless; averse to standing still; fidgeting
about; -- applied especially to horses.
--Trench.
[1913 Webster] -- Rest"ive, adv. -- Rest"ive*ness, n.
Wiktionary
n. The characteristic of being restive.
WordNet
n. the anxious feeling you have when you have the jitters [syn: jitteriness, jumpiness, nervousness]
characterized by nervousness and quickness to take fright [syn: skittishness]
Usage examples of "restiveness".
It was the misfortune of that age that there was no firm moral order to counter the restiveness and upheaval engendered by the tremendously rapid increase in the human population.
The British Cabinet that year was wrestling with a huge trade deficit, slumping popularity polls, and restiveness over a divided mood on European policy.