eager
adjective · verb
Simple meaning
Very keen and excited to do something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
eegerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈiɡɚ
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.
adjective
Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
computing theory
Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.
verb
intransitive
To be or become eager.
intransitive
To express eagerness.
transitive
To make or encourage to be eager
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
Eager usually sounds positive and enthusiastic, although it can suggest impatience in certain situations.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Very common
- Connotation
- Warm and admiring
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Business/professional
Usage note
Eager describes willingness before the event; “keen” is close, but “anxious” shifts the feeling towards worry.
Nearby words
- interested , calmer and less intense
- excited , more openly emotional
- enthusiastic , more energetic and strongly positive
- keen , common in British English and slightly more restrained
- anxious , may suggest worry rather than excitement
Natural pattern: eager to + verb · eager for + noun
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use eager
- “The children were eager to open their presents on Christmas morning.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Other combinations
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A positive feeling of wanting to push ahead with something.
With eagerness.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An alert and energetic person.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: desirous
Commonly Confused With
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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.