worrying

adjective

wor·​ry·​ing ˈwər-ē-iŋ 

ˈwə-rē-

: causing worry : creating reason for worry : troubling

a worrying trend/development

a worrying question

The presence of the knife on the stage of the murder was a worrying circumstance for Wilson.

—Mark Twain

worryingly adverb

When the secretary returned, she handed us an envelope that looked worryingly official …

—Caroline Alexander

… money held by households has risen at a worryingly slow rate over the past year …

—The Economist

Examples of worrying in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The most worrying thing for them is that Renard is not even certain to stay beyond this summer. — Tomás Hill López-Menchero, New York Times, 22 June 2026

What’s worrying to him is that abundance can masquerade as sufficiency. — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 9 June 2026

The worrying thing for Sweden today is that its best players are definitely their forward stars. — Ben Church, CNN Money, 30 June 2026

In a recent LogicMark survey, men were more likely to describe caregiving as rewarding, while women were more likely to describe it as overwhelming and worrying. — Madeline Mitchell, USA Today, 7 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for worrying

• currying
• hurrying
• scurrying