Definition of EAGER

Choose the Right Synonym for eager

eager, avid, keen, anxious, athirst mean moved by a strong and urgent desire or interest. eager implies ardor and enthusiasm and sometimes impatience at delay or restraint. eager to get started avid adds to eager the implication of insatiability or greed. avid for new thrills keen suggests intensity of interest and quick responsiveness in action. keen on the latest fashions anxious emphasizes fear of frustration or failure or disappointment. anxious not to make a social blunder athirst stresses yearning but not necessarily readiness for action. athirst for adventure

eager, anxious, and keen mean having or showing a strong desire or interest. eager is used when there is much enthusiasm and often impatience. Eager travelers waited for their train. anxious is used when there is fear of failure or disappointment. I was anxious to learn who won. keen is used when there is great interest and readiness to act. The new scouts are keen to learn.

Examples of eager in a Sentence

… wine connoisseurs eager to visit cellars and late-fall pilgrims seeking the increasingly rare white truffle … — Corby Kummer, Atlantic, August 2000 … so many religions were steeped in an absolutist frame of mind—each convinced that it alone had a monopoly on the truth and therefore eager for the state to impose this truth on others. — Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, 1996 She was eager to get started. The crowd was eager for more.

Recent Examples on the Web

Investors will be eager for updates on its store traffic when the company reports on Feb. 26. — Jessica Menton, WSJ, "Earnings Season to Offer Next Test for Retail Stocks," 15 Feb. 2019 The Future Is Now Although KickSat-2 is meant to be a technology demonstration project, Manchester is eager to start doing actual science, too. — Steve Nadis, Discover Magazine, "The Tiny Satellites That Might Fly to Another Solar System," 18 Oct. 2018 The sale of the Patton Brook well to Southington led to more controversy; critics argued the city was too eager to sell a water resource for too little money. — Don Stacom, Courant Community, "New Chief Of New Britain Water Utility Sees Rebuilding Ahead," 6 July 2018 Among the group are off-duty snowboarding instructors and aspiring winemakers, a youthful generation that Isabella is eager to develop. — Christopher Ross, WSJ, "The Hidden Valley in the Italian Alps Where Winemakers Are Working Against Nature," 15 Feb. 2019 Another fair question is whether the South Koreans be as eager to enforce a no-fly zone as the North would be. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "The U.S. Doesn’t Want a No-Fly Zone Over the Korean DMZ. Here’s Why.," 18 Oct. 2018 Photo: Russian Defence Ministry/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Moscow isn’t eager to confront U.S. forces head-on: Russia has a military budget about a 10th the size of the Pentagon’s. — Thomas Grove, WSJ, "The New Iron Curtain: Russian Missile Defense Challenges U.S. Air Power," 23 Jan. 2019 Wilson, who got in touch with Heathers after finding out about the initial survey, is eager to discover what’s going on in her own body. — Cathleen O'grady, Ars Technica, "Creating goosebumps at will may be more interesting than it sounds," 6 Aug. 2018 In other news, the Gunners have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Boca Juniors winger Cristian Pavon as the Argentina outfit are eager to tie him to a new deal which would see his release clause increased to £37.5m. — SI.com, "Arsenal Boss Unai Emery Insists He 'Wants to Work With' Aaron Ramsey Amid Contract Standoff," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'eager.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.