Anxiousness

anx·ious  (ngkshs, ngshs)

adj.

1. Uneasy and apprehensive about an uncertain event or matter; worried.

2. Attended with, showing, or causing anxiety: spent an anxious night waiting for the test results.

3. Usage Problem Eagerly or earnestly desirous.

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[From Latin nxius, from angere, to torment; see angh- in Indo-European roots.]

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anxious·ly adv.

anxious·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.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	anxiousness - (psychiatry) a relatively permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by compulsive behavior or attacks of panic anxiety psychiatry, psychological medicine, psychopathology - the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders mental condition, mental state, psychological condition, psychological state - (psychology) a mental condition in which the qualities of a state are relatively constant even though the state itself may be dynamic; "a manic state" castration anxiety - (psychoanalysis) anxiety resulting from real or imagined threats to your sexual functions; originally applied only to men but can in principle apply to women hypochondria, hypochondriasis - chronic and abnormal anxiety about imaginary symptoms and ailments overanxiety - excessive anxiety scare, panic - sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events; "panic in the stock market"; "a war scare"; "a bomb scare led them to evacuate the building"
	2.	anxiousness - a feeling of mild anxiety about possible developments disquiet anxiety - a vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) misfortune