concern
noun · verb
Simple meaning
That which affects one's welfare or happiness.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnsurnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənˈsɝn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
That which affects one's welfare or happiness. A matter of interest to someone.
A worry; a sense that something may be wrong; an identification of a possible problem.
The placement of interest or worry on a subject.
The expression of solicitude, anxiety, or compassion toward a thing or person.
A business, firm or enterprise; a company.
verb
transitive
To relate or belong to; to have reference to or connection with; to affect the interest of; to be of importance to.
transitive
To engage by feeling or sentiment; to interest.
transitive
To make somebody worried.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: That which affects one's welfare or happiness. A matter of interest to someone.
Used this way, concern is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- touch , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use concern
- “The safety of the ship is the captain's concern.”noun
- “New York traffic is a constant concern.”noun
- “She felt strong concern for those less fortunate.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Feeling or showing worry or solicitude.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A company that packages goods for sale or shipment or storage.
A company that does commercial printing.
Concern for your own interests and welfare.
A financial institution that accepts deposits and channels the money into lending activities.
The concerns of this life as distinguished from heaven and the afterlife.
A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.