/keuhn serrn"/ , v.t.
1. to relate to; be connected with; be of interest or importance to; affect: The water shortage concerns us all.
2. to interest or engage (used reflexively or in the passive, often fol. by with or in ): She concerns herself with every aspect of the business.
3. to trouble, worry, or disquiet: I am concerned about his health.
n.
4. something that relates or pertains to a person; business; affair: Law is the concern of lawyers.
5. a matter that engages a person's attention, interest, or care, or that affects a person's welfare or happiness: The party was no concern of his.
6. worry, solicitude, or anxiety: to show concern for someone in trouble.
7. important relation or bearing: This news is of concern to all of us.
8. a commercial or manufacturing company or establishment: the headquarters of an insurance concern.
9. Informal. any material object or contrivance.
[ 1375-1425; late ME concernen ( concerner ) concernere to relate to, distinguish (LL: to mix for sifting), equiv. to L con- CON- + cernere to sift ]
Syn. 1. touch, involve. 3. disturb. 5. burden, responsibility. CONCERN, CARE, WORRY connote an uneasy and burdened state of mind. CONCERN implies an anxious sense of interest in something: concern over a friend's misfortune. CARE suggests a heaviness of spirit caused by dread, or by the constant pressure of burdensome demands: Poverty weighs a person down with care. WORRY is an active state of agitated uneasiness and restless apprehension: He was distracted by worry over the stock market. 8. firm, house.
Ant. 6. indifference.