unrest

/ˈʌnˌrɛst/

/ənˈrɛst/

Other forms: unrests

Unrest is an uneasy, agitated, or disturbed condition. Strikes and public protests are often part of social and political unrest.

There's a personal, small-scale kind of unrest, like the unrest caused at a birthday party by one extremely unhappy child, or the unrest that results from a class clown's practical jokes. Then there's the societal unrest that results in angry public demonstrations. Unsafe working conditions might lead to unrest among laborers, and a government's authoritarian rule often results in unrest too, with citizens marching in the streets.

Definitions of unrest

1. noun

   a state of agitation or turbulent change or development
   “social unrest”

   synonyms: agitation, ferment, fermentation, tempestuousness

   type of:

   Sturm und Drang, turbulence, upheaval

   a state of violent disturbance and disorder (as in politics or social conditions generally)
2. noun

   a feeling of restless agitation
   type of:

   agitation

   the feeling of being agitated; not calm