worry
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Be worried, concerned, anxious, troubled.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wureeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɝi
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
A strong feeling of anxiety
“His worry over the prospect of being fired.”
An instance or cause of such a feeling.
A person who causes worry.
verb
Be worried, concerned, anxious, troubled, or uneasy
intransitive
To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt.
Disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress
“I cannot sleep--my daughter's health is worrying me.”
transitive
To harass; to irritate or distress.
Touch or rub constantly
transitive
To touch repeatedly; to fiddle with.
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: A strong feeling of anxiety
Used this way, worry is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
“His worry over the prospect of being fired.”
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Strongnoun
“His worry over the prospect of being fired.”
Disturbverb
“I cannot sleep--my daughter's health is worrying me.”
More ways to use worry
- “His worry over the prospect of being fired.”noun
- “I worry about my job.”verb
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of harassing someone.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: be worried or concerned or anxious or troubled
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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.