worrying

adjective

wor·​ry·​ing ˈwər-ē-iŋ How to pronounce worrying (audio)
ˈwə-rē-
Synonyms of worryingnext
: 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
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.
The worrying hack managed to get around protections built into large language models that are supposed to provide guardrails against just this kind of malicious behavior by employing something known as the immersive world jailbreak. — Davey Winder, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025 But more worrying, at least for Musk, are the growing calls to boycott his products. — George Pendle, airmail.news, 15 Mar. 2025 That’s the worrying message coming from Dollar General, which sells inexpensive items and is thus considered a bellwether for low and middle-income shoppers’ health. — Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN, 13 Mar. 2025 There are signs that layoffs are becoming more worrying. — Courtenay Brown, Axios, 11 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for worrying

Word History

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of worrying was in 1817

Rhymes for worrying

See All Rhymes for worrying

Browse Nearby Words

worry beads
worrying
worry line
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Worrying.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worrying. Accessed 31 Mar. 2025.

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More from Merriam-Webster on worrying

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for worrying

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