Anxiety: The Difference Between Worry, Fear and a Diagnosis
Anxiety is unease about something uncertain. It names both an ordinary human feeling and a group of medical conditions, and the two are easy to confuse.
Anxiety is the uncomfortable feeling of expecting something bad — a nagging unease about what might happen. Unlike fear, it does not need a present threat. Fear points at something; anxiety points at the future.
The word also names a family of clinical conditions, from generalised anxiety disorder to panic disorder, in which the feeling is persistent enough to interfere with ordinary life.
- Unease about an uncertain outcome. *Exam anxiety.*
- A medical condition. *He was treated for anxiety.*
- Eagerness (older sense). *Anxiety to please.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | anxiety | A wave of anxiety. |
| Plural | anxieties | Financial anxieties. |
| Adjective | anxious | Anxious about the result. |
| Adverb | anxiously | She waited anxiously. |
How it is used in a sentence
- There is real anxiety about the cost of living.Collective, about the future.
- He was anxious to help.The older sense: eager, not frightened.
- Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions.The clinical sense.
Anxiety, fear, worry and stress
- Fear — a response to a present, identifiable threat
- Anxiety — unease about something that has not happened
- Worry — the thinking part: turning a problem over repeatedly
- Stress — the body's response to demand, which may be positive or negative
From Latin *anxietas*, from *anxius*, troubled, and *angere*, to choke or squeeze — the same root as *anguish* and *anger*. The oldest sense of the word is a tightness in the throat.
Is anxious the same as nervous?
Close, but anxious is longer-lasting and more about the future; nervous is often momentary and situational.
Can anxious mean eager?
Yes, and it is standard: *anxious to begin*. Some style guides object, but the sense is centuries old.