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full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried; solicitous:
her parents were anxious about her poor health.
earnestly desirous; eager (usually followed by an infinitive or for):
anxious to please; anxious for our happiness.
attended with or showing solicitude or uneasiness:
anxious forebodings.
contemporary examples

former evangelical celebrity frank schaeffer says they are anxious, terrified, and obsessed with s-x.
the christian-right whistleblower mich-lle goldberg june 23, 2011

on the one hand, she was anxious about her colleagues knowing about her kink.
coming out kinky to your doctor, in black and blue heather boerner october 24, 2014

“there’s gotta be something else that straight guys are anxious about besides somebody thinking they are gay,” he says.
can gay jokes be funny (anymore)? tricia romano october 22, 2010

through it all i’ll keep an eye on those hopeful filmmakers, anxious sellers and secretive buyers.
here comes the sundance kim masters january 12, 2009

someone once asked larry king if he was at all anxious about marrying shawn southwick, a woman 26 years his junior.
rise of the fembots rebecca dana april 18, 2010

historical examples

the meal stood untouched, and even bess looked pale and anxious.
“seth” frances hodgson burnett

their interviews were first blissful, then anxious, then sad, then stormy.
malbone thomas wentworth higginson

i am quite in earnest, and am besides most anxious that you should get a scholarship this time.
julian home dean frederic w. farrar

“it wouldn’t do, sir, for the blind to be anxious,” she replied.
blackwood’s edinburgh magazine, no. 327 various

razumihin had nothing to say, so pulcheria alexandrovna was anxious again.
crime and punishment fyodor dostoevsky

adjective
worried and tense because of possible misfortune, danger, etc; uneasy
fraught with or causing anxiety; worrying; distressing: an anxious time
intensely desirous; eager: anxious for promotion
adj.

1620s, from latin anxius “solicitous, uneasy, troubled in mind” (also “causing anxiety, troublesome”), from angere, anguere “choke, squeeze,” figuratively “torment, cause distress” (see anger (v.)). the same image is in serbo-croatian tjeskoba “anxiety,” literally “tightness, narrowness.” related: anxiously; anxiousness.