Meaning of worry in English

worry

verb

/ˈwɝː.i/ uk

/ˈwʌr.i/

worry verb (PROBLEM)

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A2 [ I ]

to think about problems or unpleasant things that might happen in a way that makes you feel unhappy and frightened:

Try not to worry - there's nothing you can do to change the situation.

don't worry Don't worry, she'll be all right.

worry about It's silly worrying about things which are outside your control.

[ + (that) ] She's worried (that) she might not be able to find another job.

B2 [ T ]

to make someone feel unhappy and frightened because of problems or unpleasant things that might happen:

You worried your mother by not writing.

[ + that ] It worries me that he hasn't phoned yet.

The continued lack of rain is starting to worry people.

More examplesFewer examples

Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of it all.
My elderly mother worries that she's a burden to me.
Sometimes I worry about the future.
She'd worried quite needlessly about whether there would be enough food.
You needn't worry - I'm not going to mention it to anyone.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Anxious and worried

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Causing anxiety and worry

worry verb (ANIMAL)

[ T ]

If a dog worries another animal, it chases and frightens it and might also bite it:

Any dog caught worrying sheep in these fields will be shot.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Animal (non-human) behavior

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Pursuing

Idioms

don't worry your pretty little head

not to worry

Phrasal verb

worry at something

worry

noun

/ˈwɝː.i/ uk

/ˈwʌr.i/

B1 [ C ]

a problem that makes you feel unhappy and frightened:

health/financial worries

Keeping warm in the winter is a major worry for many old people.

B2 [ C or U ]

a feeling of being unhappy and frightened about something:

Unemployment, bad health - all sorts of things can be a cause of worry.

It was clear that Anna had no worries about her husband's attempts to flirt.

Synonyms

alarm  (WORRY)
concern  (WORRY)
consternation
distress 
preoccupation

More examplesFewer examples

She was nearly demented with worry when her son didn't come home.
I wanted to make amends for the worry I've caused you.
Where on earth have you been? We've been frantic with worry.
Some people glide effortlessly through life with no real worries.
That's my kind of vacation - no phone, no TV and no worries.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Anxiety and worry - general words

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Difficult things and people

no worries

used to tell someone that a situation is acceptable, even if something has gone wrong:

"Oh, I'm sorry I got your name wrong!" "No worries."

(Definition of worry from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

worry | Intermediate English

worry

verb [ I/T ]

/ˈwɜr·i, ˈwʌr·i/

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to think about problems or unpleasant things that make you anxious, or to make someone feel anxious:

[ I ] If you get a monthly train ticket, you won’t have to worry about buying a ticket every day.

[ I ] My mother always worries about me when I don’t come home by midnight.

[ I ] "Will you be all right walking home?" "Don’t worry – I’ll be fine."

[ + that clause ] She worried that she might not be able to find another job.

[ T ] A lot of things worried him about his roommate.

worry

noun [ C/U ] us

/ˈwɜr·i, ˈwʌr·i/

[ C ] Fortunately, right now we don’t have any worries about money.

(Definition of worry from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of worry

worry

Are they right to be worried about this?

From NPR

But, in fact, the worries go far deeper.

From Huffington Post

The government is worried about their physical health, what about their mental health?

From CNN

He will say it's because he worries about you.

From Huffington Post

I might have a car now, and have rent and bills to worry about.

From NPR

You don't have to worry about being late or reactivation fees any more.

From Plain Dealer

Further, at their prices, they will have little to worry about in their efforts to drive down prices.

From Fast Company

I worried that he would be hurt or something bad would happen to him.

From NPR

He can not understand why she won't eat, and constantly worries about it.

From CNN

I am not worried at this point about the impact on the election.

From Huffington Post

Worry about managing the credit you have and worry about your credit history.

From Plain Dealer

Not having to worry about those things gives me a lot more time to enjoy my day.

From The Atlantic

That's what we worry about, day in, day out.

From Los Angeles Times

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with worry

worry

These are words often used in combination with worry.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

big worry

That is the big worry.

From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English

cause worry

Pain in the neck or low back can influence functional capacity and cause worry, anxiety, and depression.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

constant worry

The constant worry over worker quality and efficiency in the 1920s reflected this syndrome.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with worry

What is the pronunciation of worry?

A2,B2,B1,B2

Translations of worry

in Chinese (Traditional)

問題, 擔心, 憂慮…

in Chinese (Simplified)

问题, 担心, 忧虑…

in Spanish

preocuparse, preocupar, inquietar…

in Portuguese

preocupar-se, afligir-se, perseguir…

in more languages

in Marathi

in Japanese

in Turkish

in French

in Catalan

in Dutch

in Tamil

in Hindi

in Gujarati

in Danish

in Swedish

in Malay

in German

in Norwegian

in Urdu

in Ukrainian

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काळजी करणे, चिंता करणे, काळजी वाटणे…

（人）が心配する, （人）を心配させる, 不安…

kaygılanmak, endişelenmek, merak etmek…

s’inquiéter, se faire du souci, souci [masculine]…

patir, preocupar-se, preocupar…

(zich) ongerust maken, lastig vallen, de tanden zetten in…

உங்களை மகிழ்ச்சியற்றதாகவும் பயமாகவும் உணரக்கூடிய வகையில் நடக்கக்கூடிய பிரச்சினைகள் அல்லது விரும்பத்தகாத விஷயங்களைப் பற்றி சிந்திக்க, நடக்கக்கூடிய பிரச்சினைகள் அல்லது விரும்பத்தகாத விஷயங்கள் காரணமாக யாராவது மகிழ்ச்சியற்றவர்களாகவும் பயமாகவும் உணர, உங்களுக்கு மகிழ்ச்சியற்றதாகவும் பயமாகவும் இருக்கும் ஒரு சிக்கல்…

चिंता करना, चिंता में होना, (किसी समस्या की) चिंता…

ચિંતા, ઉપાધિ, કોઈ સમસ્યા કે દુ:ખદાયક બાબત બનવાની સંભાવનાને કારણે કોઈકનું દુ:ખી કે ભયભીત થવું.…

bekymre sig, være bekymret, forstyrre…

oroa [sig], ansätta, störa…

merisaukan, mengganggu, mengetap gigi…

(sich) ängstigen, zusetzen, bedrängen…