ANXIETY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does anxiety mean? 

• ANXIETY (noun)
  The noun ANXIETY has 2 senses:

1. (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

2. a vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) misfortune

  Familiarity information: ANXIETY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANXIETY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

anxiety; anxiousness

Hypernyms ("anxiety" is a kind of...):

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)

Domain category:

psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "anxiety"):

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)

panic; scare (sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) misfortune

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("anxiety" is a kind of...):

emotion (any strong feeling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "anxiety"):

discomfiture; discomposure; disconcertion; disconcertment (anxious embarrassment)

trouble; worry (a strong feeling of anxiety)

care; concern; fear (an anxious feeling)

anxiousness; disquiet (a feeling of mild anxiety about possible developments)

insecurity (the anxiety you experience when you feel vulnerable and insecure)

disquietude; edginess; inquietude; uneasiness (feelings of anxiety that make you tense and irritable)

sinking; sinking feeling (a feeling caused by uneasiness or apprehension)

misgiving; qualm; scruple (uneasiness about the fitness of an action)

jitteriness; jumpiness; nervousness; restiveness (the anxious feeling you have when you have the jitters)

angst (an acute but unspecific feeling of anxiety; usually reserved for philosophical anxiety about the world or about personal freedom)

 Context examples 

Holmes’s face grew tense with anxiety.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

How else can we explain her frenzied anxiety that her second one should not enter it?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Hold on, Arthur, my boy," he said, attempting to mask his anxiety with facetious utterance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Our experience warranted this state of mind, and we went about our work with anxiety always upon us.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned and said to his wife: What is to become of us?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Conducted in mice, the new study may help untangle multiple psychiatric conditions, including alcohol use disorder, anxiety disorders, insomnia, and depression in humans.

(Researchers identify key brain circuits for reward-seeking and avoidance behavior, National Institutes of Health)

When people are feeling excited, fearful, or anxious, the electric charge travels faster through the skin, providing an objective way for researchers to gauge social anxiety and other forms of psychological arousal.

(Animals’ presence may ease social anxiety in kids with autism, NIH)

When someone lies, the body experiences an emotional response, anxiety, which is revealed in the temperature of the nose.

(The most reliable scientific model to date for detecting when a person is lying, based on thermography, University of Granada)

Compared to adults who were born at a normal weight, those born at an extremely low weight had higher rates of anxiety and depression, and markedly lower levels of social functioning.

(Tiny Babies May Face Mental Health Problems Later, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)