Are You Feeling "Anxious" or "Eager"?

Women showing signs of anxiousness and eager

If you’ve ever used “anxious” when you really meant “eager,” you aren’t alone. Famed novelist Mark Twain favored “anxious” over “eager” dozens of times in his work, as seen in these lines from The Innocents Abroad: “Everybody was anxious to get ashore and visit these classic localities as quickly as possible,” and “Four more of our passengers were anxious to visit Athens.” In both cases, readers can deduce that Twain is describing excitement or anticipation — recognizable as eagerness — and not worry.

Jane Austen used “anxious” in two contexts in Pride and Prejudice. Here, it means “eager”: “…Elizabeth saw that he was anxious for his sister and herself to get acquainted.” And here, it means “worry”: “Her father was walking about the room, looking grave and anxious.” So were these highly revered authors in error with their word choices? It depends on whom you ask.

Universities and style guides list this duo as one of the most commonly confused false synonyms. The Associated Press Stylebook notes their differences, explaining that “anxious” is for worry or unease, and “eager” is for enthusiastic impatience.

Dictionaries agree: The adjectives have distinct definitions. “Eager” means “wanting to do or have something very much,” while “anxious” is “experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness.” In other words, “eager” is a positive outlook, and “anxious” is a negative one. Someone might say they are “anxious for their upcoming vacation,” but unless they’re afraid of traveling, they probably mean “eager” because they’re excited. A more appropriate use would be feeling “anxious for the upcoming flight.”

However, “anxious” also can be used in the sense of wanting something, similar to “eager,” as in, “We left early, anxious to avoid the storm” — because it carries negative connotations. This usage might have contributed to writers’ mix-ups, inserting “anxious” for any type of desire, even a positive one.

In another twist, “eager” has an archaic definition that comes from the Old French aigre, meaning “keen,” which comes from the Latin acer, relating to something “sharp” or “pungent.” In Middle English, “eager” could be used to mean “harsh,” “fierce,” “sour,” or “sharp,” as seen in Shakespeare’s Richard II: “The bitter clamour of two eager tongues.” While this usage is outdated, it might have fueled the fire of the “eager”/”anxious” confusion. “Anxious,” on the other hand, has remained the same for centuries, originating from the Latin anxius, from angere, meaning “to choke” — aptly suggestive of the physical sensation from the tension of anxiety.