The Collaborative Dictionary

Worry \Wor"ry\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Worried; p. pr. & vb. n. Worrying.] [OE. worowen, wirien, to strangle, AS. wyrgan in [=a]wyrgan; akin to D. worgen, wurgen, to strangle, OHG. wurgen, G. w["u]rgen, Lith. verszti, and perhaps to E. wring.] [1913 Webster]

To harass by pursuit and barking; to attack repeatedly; also, to tear or mangle with the teeth. [1913 Webster] A hellhound that doth hunt us all to death; That dog that had his teeth before his eyes, To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

To harass or beset with importunity, or with care an anxiety; to vex; to annoy; to torment; to tease; to fret; to trouble; to plague. "A church worried with reformation." --South. [1913 Webster] Let them rail, And worry one another at their pleasure. --Rowe. [1913 Webster] Worry him out till he gives consent. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

To harass with labor; to fatigue. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]

Word Net

worrying adj : causing distress or worry or anxiety; "distressing (or disturbing) news"; "lived in heroic if something distressful isolation"; "a disturbing amount of crime"; "a revelation that was most perturbing"; "a new and troubling thought"; "in a particularly worrisome predicament"; "a worrying situation"; "a worrying time" [syn: distressing, distressful, disturbing, perturbing, troubling, worrisome]

Noun

1 the act of harassing someone [syn: badgering, torment, bedevilment]

2 the act of moving something by repeated tugs or pushes; "vigorous worrying finally loosened the saw"

Moby Thesaurus

aggravating, annoying, bothering, bothersome, chafing, disquieting, distressful, distressing, disturbing, exasperating, fretting, galling, harassing, harassment, importunate, importune, irking, irksome, irritating, pesky, pestering, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential, plaguesome, plaguey, plaguing, provoking, teasing, tiresome, torment, tormenting, troublesome, troubling, upsetting, vexatious, vexing, wearisome, worriedness, worries and cares, worriment, worrisome, worry

English

Verb

worrying

present participle of worry

Adjective

Of or pertaining to worry.

Quotations

A well accepted theory of anxiety originally posited by Liebert and Morris in 1967 suggests that anxiety consists of two components; worry and emotionality. Emotionality refers to physiological symptoms such as sweating, increased heart beat and raised blood pressure.

Worry refers to negative self-talk that often distracts the mind from focusing on the problem at hand. For example, when students become anxious during a test, they may repeatedly tell themselves they are going to fail, or they can't remember the material or that their teacher will become angry with them. This thinking interferes with focusing on the test as the speech areas of the brain that are needed to complete test questions are being used for worrying.

Worry can also refer to a feeling of concern about someone else's condition. For instance, a mother may say "I'm worried" if her child doesn't show up at home when he was supposed to be there. It can also refer to certain actions or the lack of those kind of actions. "I'm worried because she is not eating any vegetables".

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