worrying

Word family

• worry
  verbA2
• worry
  nounA2
• worried
  adjectiveA2
• worryingly
  adverbB2
• worrier
  nounC1
• unworried
  adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe things that cause negative emotional reactions, but they differ in intensity and focus. 'Alarming' is the strongest — it suggests an urgent threat that demands immediate action (e.g., an alarming rise in crime rates). 'Worrying' is the broadest and most everyday term, covering anything from a child's bad cough to a slow economic forecast. 'Concerning' is more detached and formal, common in official reports and polite conversation ('The situation is concerning'). 'Troubling' carries moral or social weight — you might find an unequal policy troubling, whereas you would not usually call a headache 'troubling'. 'Disturbing' implies that something unsettles you deeply and stays on your mind, such as disturbing images in a film. For everyday use, 'worrying' is the safest and most natural choice.

Common collocations

Etymology

From the verb 'worry', which in Old English (wyrgan) meant 'to strangle or kill by twisting the neck'. By the 14th century it described a dog attacking an animal by shaking and biting. The meaning shifted to 'cause mental distress' in the 16th century — the idea being that anxious thoughts grip and shake you the way a dog shakes its prey. The adjective 'worrying' appeared in the 1800s as the natural extension: describing the thing that does the 'gripping'.