worried

/ˈwʌrid/

/ˈwʌrid/

The adjective worried describes someone who's uneasy or troubled about something. Imagine worried parents, up late, waiting for their teenager to arrive home from a party.

Someone with a worried frown on his face always seems concerned. A worried email to your cousin who's traveling in the Middle East expresses your concern for her safety. The root of worried is the Old English word wyrgan, or strangle. It wasn't until the late 1800s that worried was used to describe feeling anxiety.

Definitions of worried

1. adjective

   afflicted with or marked by anxious uneasiness or trouble or grief
   “worried parents”

   “a worried frown”

   “one last worried check of the sleeping children”

   synonyms: consternated, disquieted, distressed, disturbed, harrowed, upset

   troubled

   characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need
2. adjective

   mentally upset over possible misfortune, danger, etc.
   “not used to a city and worried about small things”

   synonyms: apprehensive

   uneasy

   lacking a sense of security or affording no ease or reassurance