ANXIOUSLY Synonyms: 43 Similar and Opposite Words

anxiously

adverb

Definition of anxiously

as in apprehensively

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of anxiously To say the Grand Theft Auto community is waiting anxiously for GTA 6's third trailer is like saying Usain Bolt is kind of fast. — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026 Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, anxiously asked his staff how Israel could justify this scale of destruction. — David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 20 July 2026 Singer Gibby Haynes paces anxiously at centerstage, laughing maniacally into a megaphone. — Steve Appleford, SPIN, 20 July 2026 Eli Griffith sat in a green room in the bowels of the Javits Center in Manhattan on the first day of Fanatics Fest waiting anxiously alongside his family. — Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 17 July 2026 Still, scientists had been anxiously awaiting details about how much that twice-a-year spinal shot really helped. — Lauran Neergaard, Fortune, 14 July 2026 Sanchez, though, was anxiously waiting for a prime-time opportunity with his national team. — Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 7 July 2026 Each year when Wimbledon rolls around, tennis fans crane their necks and watch their TV screens with undivided attention for a glance at the Royal Box, anxiously awaiting if Kate Middleton will be in attendance. — Rachel Burchfield, InStyle, 5 July 2026 At donation centers across Miami-Dade County, members of the Venezuelan community are collecting supplies for victims while anxiously waiting for news from home. — Ivan Taylor, CBS News, 30 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for anxiously

Adverb

This show of sweetness fighting back against a sense of hopelessness builds an apprehensively brighter perspective than earlier work.

— Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025

Definition of apprehensively

Adverb

This oversharing of small details exists uneasily alongside a surprising lack of reflection on the book’s ostensible themes.

— Matthew Walther, The Atlantic, 20 July 2026
Back in Ithaca, his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and their grown son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), who hasn’t seen his father since childhood, cling uneasily to the hope that Odysseus is alive and on his way home.

— Justin Chang, New Yorker, 17 July 2026

Definition of uneasily

Adverb

The audience — all Christians themselves — darted worried looks to one another, shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

— Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald, 18 July 2026
Resurrection Dex’s Resurrection is an uncomfortably honest and self-critical mixtape about the British rapper attempting to reform his crooked ways.

— Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 17 July 2026

Definition of uncomfortably

Adverb

The director has established himself as this century’s preëminent Hollywood filmmaker, the rare working artist whose catalogue is as commercially indomitable as it is critically lauded.

— Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 22 July 2026
Well past Squid Game, extremely high-quality content has emerged from the country to land as hits, critically, viewership-wise or both.

— Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

Definition of critically

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“Anxiously.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/anxiously. Accessed 24 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of anxiously

adverb

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