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rest·less (r st l s)adj.1. Marked by a lack of quiet, repose, or rest: spent a restless night. 2. Not able to rest, relax, or be still: a restless child. 3. Never still or motionless: the restless sea. See Usage Note at restive.
rest less·ly adv. rest less·ness n. |
Restlessness - Always fidgeting around to go, like a horse in an antbed —Elmer Kelton
- Fidgeted as though the skin on her back were as a plucked fowl’s in a poulterer’s shop window —Virginia Woolf
- Fidgety as a child —Richard Wilbur
- Fidgety, like a rabbit’s nose —or a commuter —Don Marquis
- Fitful as a cautery —Diane Ackerman
- I’m as restless as a willow in a windstorm, I’m as jumpy as a puppet on a string —Oscar Hammerstein II, opening lines for “It Might As Well Be Spring” from State Fair
“It Might As Well Be Spring” is a particularly outstanding example of Hammerstein’s mastery of the light-hearted simile. The lyrics also compare a nightingale without a song to a feeling of discontentment, a spider to busyness and a baby on a swing to a feeling of giddiness. - As impatient as a wedding dick —American colloquialism
- (It is a night like many another with the sky now a bit) impatient for today to be over like a bored salesgirl shifting from foot to stockinged foot —John Ashberry
- Pacing up and down like an animal in a cage —Elizabeth Taylor
- (Walking around) restless as a big animal in the lowering weather —Elizabeth Spencer
- Restless as a rolling stone —Anon
- Restless as sharp desire —Arthur C. Benson
- Restless as Ulysses —William Makepeace Thackeray
- Restless like a man running downhill who cannot keep on his legs unless he runs on, and will inevitably fall if he stops —Arthur Schopenhauer
- A restless mind, like a rolling stone, gathers nothing but dirt and mire —John Balguy
See Also: MIND - Seemed always looking for a place, like one who goes to choose a grave —Stephen Crane
- (Settled on the couch,) shifting and fluttering like birds in a nest —Peter Meinke
- Squirming as though bitten by bugs —Bernard Malamud
- Squirm like a country mule hitched beside the railroad track —American colloquialism, attributed to South
- Tossed all night like a man running from himself —Paige Mitchell
- Wriggling in her place, as if her chair was hot —Frank Swinnerton
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms | Noun | 1. | restlessness - the quality of being ceaselessly moving or active; "the restlessness of the wind" | | 2. | restlessness - a lack of patience; irritation with anything that causes delay | | 3. | restlessness - a feeling of agitation expressed in continual motion; "he's got the fidgets"; "waiting gave him a feeling of restlessness"agitation - the feeling of being agitated; not calm impatience - a restless desire for change and excitement | | 4. | restlessness - inability to rest or relax or be stilljactation, jactitation - (pathology) extremely restless tossing and twitching usually by a person with a severe illness |
restlessnessnoun1. movement, activity, turmoil, unrest, instability, bustle, turbulence, hurry, transience, inconstancy, hurry-scurry, unsettledness increasing sounds of restlessness 2. restiveness, anxiety, disturbance, nervousness, disquiet, agitation, insomnia, jitters (informal), uneasiness, edginess, heebie-jeebies (slang), jumpiness, fretfulness, ants in your pants (slang), fitfulness, inquietude, worriedness She complained of hyperactivity and restlessness.
Translations restlessness [ˈrestlɪsnɪs] N restlessness [ˈrɛstləsnɪs] n
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