worry

English Online Dictionary. What means worry‎? What does worry mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English worien, werien, wirien, wirwen, wyryȝen (“to choke, strangle”), from Old English wyrġan, from Proto-Germanic *wurgijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”).

Cognate with Dutch worgen, wurgen, German würgen. Compare Latin urgere (“to press, push”), Sanskrit वृहति (vṛhati, “to tear out, pluck”), Lithuanian ver̃žti (“to string; squeeze”), Russian (poetic) отверза́ть (otverzátʹ, “to open”, literally “to untie”). Related to wring.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, New Zealand, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈwʌɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwʌɹi/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝi/
• (New Zealand, General Australian, UK, nonstandard) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒɹi/
• (West Country, nonstandard) IPA^(key): /ˈwəʊɹi/
• Rhymes: -ʌɹi

Verb

worry (third-person singular simple present worries, present participle worrying, simple past and past participle worried)

1. (intransitive) To be troubled; to give way to mental anxiety or doubt.

2. (transitive) Disturb the peace of mind of; afflict with mental agitation or distress; to exercise.
3. (transitive) To harass; to irritate or distress.

4. (transitive) To seize or shake by the throat, especially of a dog or wolf.
5. (transitive) To touch repeatedly, to fiddle with.
6. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) To strangle.

Synonyms

• (be troubled mentally): fret, (stress)
• (trouble someone mentally): concern, fret, preoccupy, vex

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

worry (countable and uncountable, plural worries)

1. A strong feeling of anxiety.

2. An instance or cause of such a feeling.

3. A person who causes worry.

Derived terms

Translations

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English worien, from Old English wyrġan, from Proto-Germanic *wurgijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (“bind, squeeze”).

Verb

worry

1. (transitive) To strangle.