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anxiously

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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.

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

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.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adv.1.anxiouslyanxiously - with anxiety or apprehension; "we watched anxiously"
Translations
anxiously [ˈæŋkʃəslɪ] advcon inquietud, de manera angustiada
anxiously [ˈæŋkʃəslɪ] advanxieusement
anxiously [ˈæŋkʃəslɪ] anxious advbesorgt
anxiously [ˈæŋkʃəslɪ] advansiosamente, con ansia


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Anxiously Bruce watched for the light, and at last he saw it.
but he sat still and shivered and looked anxiously at the kettle.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war.
 
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