worriedly

worriedly — adverb

1. with anxious concern, because you think something unpleasant may happen or has a

1.adverbB1
Definition

with anxious concern, because you think something unpleasant may happen or has already happened

Example

Selim glanced worriedly at his phone, hoping for a message from his sister.

glance worriedly at — patterned with prepositions of direction

'Is the baby still coughing?' asked Élise worriedly.

speaking verb + worriedly — common for questions or concerns

Common collocations
  • glance worriedly at
  • look worriedly at
  • ask worriedly
  • wait worriedly
  • stare worriedly at
  • rub one's forehead / temples / hands worriedly
Synonyms
  • anxiously

    similar level of concern; slightly more common

  • uneasily

    implies discomfort rather than active fear

  • fretfully

    suggests restless, repeated small movements

  • nervously

    emphasises internal tension more than concern about a specific problem

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

worriedly + verb of manner

verb + worriedly

Usage Note

Commonly modifies verbs of looking (glanced, stared), speaking (asked, muttered), waiting, and other anxious actions. Compare with 'worryingly', which describes the situation itself (e.g. 'The numbers are worryingly high'), whereas 'worriedly' describes the person's emotional manner.

Common Mistakes

She looked worryingly at the clock.
She looked worriedly at the clock.
'worryingly' means the clock is causing worry; 'worriedly' describes how she looked.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adverb/1

Worriedly, anxiously, nervously, and uneasily all describe doing something with concern, but they differ in what the person looks like or feels. 'Worriedly' is about visible concern: you can see it on someone's face or in their actions. 'Anxiously' adds a sense of inner tension and restlessness — the person may fidget or pace. 'Nervously' focuses on shaky or jumpy behaviour, often before a specific event (like a test or speech). 'Uneasily' suggests a vague sense that something is wrong, without a clear reason. For example: 'She waited worriedly for news from the hospital' (dwelling on possible bad outcomes); 'He paced anxiously before the interview' (tense and restless); 'They sat uneasily through the meeting, sensing tension in the room' (no obvious threat, but an uncomfortable feeling).

anxiously ↗nervously ↗uneasily

Common collocations

Phrases

  • glance worriedly at
  • ask worriedly
  • wait worriedly
  • look worriedly at
  • rub one's head / hands worriedly

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Formed in English by adding the adverb-forming suffix '-ly' to the adjective 'worried'. The adjective itself comes from the verb 'worry', which originally meant 'to strangle or choke' in Old English (wyrgan). By the 1500s 'worry' had taken on the sense of 'to harass or attack' (used of dogs shaking prey). The meaning shifted in the 1800s to 'to cause mental distress' and then to the modern sense of 'to feel uneasy or anxious about something'.