aŋˈzīəd.ē, aiŋ-, -ətē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: Latin anxietas, from anxius + -tas -ty
1.
a.
(1) : a state of being anxious or of experiencing a strong or dominating blend of uncertainty, agitation or dread, and brooding fear about some contingency : uneasiness
your anxiety about the child's health … is … unfounded — Agnes Repplier
(2) : the cause for such a state
there was no escaping his anxieties, and plagued as he was by them, he sought solitude — Jean Stafford
b. : a strong concern about some imminent development or a strong desire, mixed with doubt and fear, for some event or issue
anxiety to succeed had dragged her out of her capable and mechanical indifference — Arnold Bennett
2.
a. : an abnormal and overwhelming sense of apprehension and of fear often marked by such physical symptoms as tension, tremor, sweating, palpitation, and increased pulse rate
b.
(1) : an unpleasant feeling of helplessness and isolation sometimes accompanied by physiological manifestations of fear, consciously accounted for by the anticipation of pain, death, or some unknown catastrophe but without sufficient objective justification, and explained on the basis of repressed libidinal expression resulting from parental apprehension and rejection
(2) : a condition experimentally produced in laboratory animals and manifested by the physiological changes that in man accompany fear
3. existentialism : a state of mind that is deeply troubled or distressed ; especially : one that results from apparently being confronted with nothingness (as in a situation involving the need or the responsibility to make valuations and decisions and to take actions without the guidance of tradition or society)
Synonyms: see care