Anxious vs Earnest - What's the difference?
anxious | earnest | Synonyms |
Full of anxiety or disquietude; greatly concerned or solicitous, especially respecting something future or unknown; being in painful suspense;—applied to persons; as, anxious for the issue of a battle.
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*:Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious , despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=19 *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 13, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
, title= Accompanied with, or causing, anxiety; worrying;—applied to things; as, anxious labor.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:The sweet of life, from which God hath bid dwell far off all anxious cares.
Earnestly desirous; as, anxious to please.
:
* (1800-1859)
*:He sneers alike at those who are anxious to preserve and at those who are eager for reform.
Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.
* Sir Philip Sidney
* Shakespeare
Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to jesting or feigned appearance); fixed determination; eagerness; intentness.
To be serious with; use in earnest.
* 1602 , Pastor Fido:
Serious in speech or action; eager; urgent; importunate; pressing; instant.
Ardent in the pursuit of an object; eager to obtain or do; zealous with sincerity; with hearty endeavour; heartfelt; fervent; hearty; — used in a good sense; as, earnest prayers .
Intent; fixed closely; as, earnest attention .
Possessing or characterised by seriousness; strongly bent; intent.
Strenuous; diligent.
Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; not trifling or feigned; important.
A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.
* 1990 , (Peter Hopkirk), The Great Game , Folio Society 2010, p. 365:
Anxious is a synonym of earnest.
As an adjective anxious
is full of anxiety or disquietude; greatly concerned or solicitous, especially respecting something future or unknown; being in painful suspense;—applied to persons; as, anxious for the issue of a battle.As a proper noun earnest is
, an occasional spelling variant of ernest.anxious
English
(Anxiety) (Webster 1913)Alternative forms
* anctious (obsolete)Adjective
(en-adj)citation, passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost, by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}
Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd, passage=But, with United fans in celebratory mood as it appeared their team might snatch glory, they faced an anxious wait as City equalised in stoppage time.}}
Usage notes
* Anxious is followed by for, about, concerning, etc., before the object of solicitude.Synonyms
* careful * concerned * disturbed * restless * solicitous * uneasy * unquiet * watchfulExternal links
* * English refractory feminine rhymesearnest
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) ernest, eornest, from (etyl) eornest, eornost, .Noun
(-)- Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest .
- given in earnest what I begged in jest
Derived terms
* earnestful * in earnestVerb
(en verb)- Let's prove among ourselves our armes in jest, That when we come to earnest them with men, We may them better use.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) eornest, from (etyl) .Adjective
(en-adj)- an earnest disposition
- earnest efforts
Derived terms
* (l) * (l)Etymology 3
Of uncertain origin; apparently related to (erres). Compare also (l).Noun
(en noun)- But if all this was viewed by Gladstone and the Cabinet as an earnest of St Petersburg's future good intentions in Central Asia, then disillusionment was soon to follow.