Synonyms for anxiety
Most common
All synonyms
Noun
1. Anxiousness
anxiousness, uneasiness, apprehension, trouble, restlessness, fear UK, feer US, fere UK, worry, disquiet, care, dread, unease, foreboding, anguish, distress, concern, perplexity, solicitude, disturbance, misgiving, vexation, fretting, eagerness
Other
fretfulness rare
Definitions
- n. 1
An unpleasant state of mental uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension and obsession or concern about some uncertain event.
generalized anxiety disorder
Related words
- Word family
- anxietize
- Phrases
- social anxiety social anxiety disorder anxiety disorder anxiety neurosis illness anxiety disorder performance anxiety separation anxiety separation anxiety disorder
Forms
- Plural
- anxieties → anxiousnesses, uneasinesses, apprehensions, troubles…
Choose the right word
Anxiety refers to some future event, always suggesting hopeful possibility, and thus differing from apprehension, fear, dread, foreboding, terror, all of which may be quite despairing.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- apprehension He detected in her voice a note of apprehension.
- restlessness I asked him what was causing his restlessness.
- uneasiness He took a deep breath and tried to put his uneasiness to rest.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| anxiety | rising | |
| apprehension | steady | |
| restlessness | steady | |
| uneasiness | steady | |
| anxiousness | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- care1, fear1, fere, feer
- 5 letters
- worry2, dread1
- 6 letters
- unease2
- 7 letters
- trouble2, concern2, anguish2
- 8 letters
- distress2, fretting2, disquiet3, vexation
- 9 letters
- eagerness3, misgiving3
- 10 letters
- foreboding3, uneasiness4, perplexity4, solicitude4
- 11 letters
- disturbance3, anxiousness, fretfulness
- 12 letters
- apprehension4, restlessness3
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (worry2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- anxiété
- Italiano
- ansia
- Español
- ansiedad
- Deutsch
- Ängstlichkeit
- Català
- ansietat