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Frightened vs Anxious - What's the difference?

frightened | anxious |

As adjectives the difference between frightened and anxious

is that frightened is afraid; suffering from fear while 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 verb frightened

is past tense of frighten.

frightened

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Afraid; suffering from fear.
  • *
  • He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again her partner was haled off with a frightened look to the royal circle, […].

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

    (head)
  • (frighten)
  • anxious

    English

    (Anxiety) (Webster 1913)

    Alternative forms

    * anctious (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • 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.
  • :
  • *
  • *: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 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.}}
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 13, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= 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.}}
  • 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.
  • Usage notes

    * Anxious is followed by for, about, concerning, etc., before the object of solicitude.

    Synonyms

    * careful * concerned * disturbed * restless * solicitous * uneasy * unquiet * watchful