ANXIETY

anxiety |a ng ˈzī-itē| noun ( pl. -ties) a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome : he felt a surge of anxiety | anxieties about the moral decline of today's youth. • [ with infinitive ] desire to do something, typically accompanied by unease : the housekeeper's eager anxiety to please. • Psychiatry a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks. ORIGIN early 16th cent.: from French anxiété or Latin anxietas, from anxius (see anxious ).