Definition of "anxiety" []

• A state of uneasiness and apprehension, as about future uncertainties. (noun)
• A cause of anxiety: For some people, air travel is a real anxiety. (noun)
• Psychiatry A state of apprehension, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of a realistic or fantasized threatening event or situation, often impairing physical and psychological functioning. (noun)
• Eager, often agitated desire: my anxiety to make a good impression. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In the case of emotionally induced stress, the term anxiety will serve just as well."
• "In the foregoing definitions, I have used the term anxiety more or less interchangeably with the term stress."
• "The joy, obviously, outweighs the anxiety – by volumes it outweighs the anxiety – but the anxiety is always, always there, lurking in the dark corners and bursting into the light when I least expect it, casting shadows, imposing a chill."