1
as in uneasy
lacking or denying rest
the worried mother spent a restless night, tossing and turning in bed for hours
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in anxious
marked by or causing agitation or uncomfortable feelings
the figure skater was visibly restless as she waited for her scores to be posted
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of restless
Turner-Seed’s own writing lays bare a struggle for self-fulfillment, to reconcile the traditional values pushed by her Jewish immigrant parents with a restless need to discover and make her own way.
—
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025
Bahrain is ruled by Sunnis and has a mostly Shiite population permanently restless over its servile condition.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 13 June 2025
Nothing rings more true than the trope of the restless adolescent.
—Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 7 June 2025
Across 17 restless songs, packed into 30 minutes, Mel V growls and scream-raps her way through a vicious yet silly mind dump.
—Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for restless
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025
Bahrain is ruled by Sunnis and has a mostly Shiite population permanently restless over its servile condition.
—Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 13 June 2025
Nothing rings more true than the trope of the restless adolescent.
—Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 7 June 2025
Across 17 restless songs, packed into 30 minutes, Mel V growls and scream-raps her way through a vicious yet silly mind dump.
—Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for restless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for restless
Adjective
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Some are bigger than others: economic uncertainty, changing customer behaviors, personal isolation, leadership burnout, marketing crisis, brand reputation, uneasy board members, investor expectations, consumer confidence, health issues and family challenges.—
Nancy Padberg,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2025
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But Musk’s rebuke has energized fiscal hawks in the Senate who were already uneasy with the legislation’s scope.—
Nik Popli,
Time,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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One in every three young adults aged 18-25 reports feeling anxious or lonely.—
Ann Kowal Smith,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
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Perfectionist tendencies may cause an anxious person to limit their food intake, choose to eat only a limited range of foods, or exercise in excess.—
Brittany Dube,
Health,
17 June 2025
Adjective
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In the upcoming ninth season of Rehab Addict, which premieres on June 24, Curtis restores both that Wyoming home and a troubled Detroit property that had been invaded by squatters.—
Erin Clements,
People.com,
24 June 2025
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Sue has had her own troubled relationship and substance abuse issues.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
23 June 2025
Adjective
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Content moderators are workers who remove disturbing content from social media—data which is often then used to train AI systems like ChatGPT or Facebook’s algorithms.—
Billy Perrigo,
Time,
19 June 2025
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These stories reveal a disturbing truth: AI can automate and amplify existing biases, leading to real-world injustice.—
Sajal Singh,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
Adjective
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More substantively, the ideological contours of the new Resistance still feel unsettled.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
20 June 2025
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But the broader future of federal support for science remains unsettled.—
John Drake,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2025
Adjective
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Over the past few weeks, Bieber has found himself at the center of increasingly tense run-ins with paparazzi.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
16 June 2025
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Their only hope is to get to a nearby island, a situation made harder – and much more tense – by a clever great white, noteworthy for being a real shark rather than a CGI one like most films use.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
16 June 2025
Adjective
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On top of that, Iran has its own restive population of some 20 million ethnic Azeris—making up perhaps as much as a quarter of the Iranian population.—
Zaur Shiriyev,
Foreign Affairs,
26 May 2025
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Moving out of Seattle also put almost 2,000 miles between the company’s top brass and its restive unions, which might have been one of the biggest attractions from the corner-office point of view.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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After a decade of mayhem, property destruction, and nervous soldiers firing into a crowd, the rebellion broke into gunfire between British regulars and American militia at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.—
Dan McLaughlin,
National Review,
17 June 2025
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Any time there is a change at that level, people get nervous.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
16 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Restless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/restless. Accessed 29 Jun. 2025.
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