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angst

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A feeling of anxiety or apprehension.
  • intransitive verb To show or feel anxiety or apprehension.
  • abbreviation angstrom

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
  • noun More commonly, painful sadness or emotional turmoil, as teen angst.
  • verb informal To suffer angst; to fret.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an acute but unspecific feeling of anxiety; usually reserved for philosophical anxiety about the world or about personal freedom

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German, from Middle High German angest, from Old High German angust; see angh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the German word Angst or the Danish word angst; attested since the 19th century in English translations of the works of Freud and Søren Kierkegaard. (George Eliot used the phrase complete with definite article: "die Angst".) Initially capitalized (as in German), the term first began to be written with a lowercase "a" around 1940–44. The German and Danish terms both derive from Middle High German angest, from Old High German angust, from Proto-Indo-European *angh-; Dutch angst is cognate.

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Examples

  • I'm pretty sure that very few people under the age of thirty-five remember what the word angst actually means, or know that "angsting" isn't a word, or that feeling and expressing angst is not a sign of weakness or something to be loathed and mocked.

    Only half awake, she types just fine, Sir. serenavalentino 2009

  • So, that's why: simplicity, no fear of April 15, enjoyment of springtime, decrease in angst, no lost time trying to figure out how to beat the system, no "special interests" in Congress being highly paid to design more loopholes.

    Page 2 2009

  • Unlike in the United States, where Latinos dominate the immigration debate, European angst is increasingly focused on waves of Muslims - Turks, Iraqis, Somalis and others - who have become the hottest-button issue in recent elections.

    Anti-Muslim feelings propel right wing in Europe Anthony Faiola 2010

  • Let me just first say that of all the events and all of the things we've done in the last 18 months, the single one that makes me the angriest, that gives me the most angst, is the intervention with AIG.

    Lawmakers, Regulators, Taxpayers Unbelievably Pissed At AIG - The Consumerist 2009

  • Unlike in the United States, where Latinos dominate the immigration debate, European angst is increasingly focused on waves of Muslims - Turks, Iraqis, Somalis and others - who have become the hottest-button issue in recent elections.

    Anti-Muslim feelings propel right wing in Europe Anthony Faiola 2010

  • So, that's why: simplicity, no fear of April 15, enjoyment of springtime, decrease in angst, no lost time trying to figure out how to beat the system, no "special interests" in Congress being highly paid to design more loopholes.

    Page 2 2009

  • The Tea Parties are important because white male angst is enough to bring Obama down if it spreads far enough.

    Matthew Yglesias » Meet The Tea Party 2010

  • So, that's why: simplicity, no fear of April 15, enjoyment of springtime, decrease in angst, no lost time trying to figure out how to beat the system, no "special interests" in Congress being highly paid to design more loopholes.

    Page 2 2009

  • So, that's why: simplicity, no fear of April 15, enjoyment of springtime, decrease in angst, no lost time trying to figure out how to beat the system, no "special interests" in Congress being highly paid to design more loopholes.

    Page 2 2009

  • So, that's why: simplicity, no fear of April 15, enjoyment of springtime, decrease in angst, no lost time trying to figure out how to beat the system, no "special interests" in Congress being highly paid to design more loopholes.

    Page 2 2009

Comments

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  • pterodactyl commented on the word angst

    Angst (n): The anxious, apprehensive feeling you get, deep down in your soul, when you try to find a rhyme for "angst".

    March 14, 2008

  • seanahan commented on the word angst

    First thing I could come up with was taking a document and converting it into the language of the Isle of Man, "Manxed".

    March 16, 2008

  • bilby commented on the word angst

    "'What do you hear when you listen to the city?'

    Very few people knew enough to ask him that question; the young man should not have been one of them.

    'Life and happy days.'

    'And behind that?'

    The impudent light was turned off. The questions came from deep down. When people ask something from a deep place, one must reply.

    'Angst,' said Kasper. 'The same angst that's in every human being. But multiplied by one and a half million.'

    'And behind the angst?'

    'Who says there's anything behind it? Maybe the angst is the end.'"

    - 'The Quiet Girl', Peter Høeg.

    March 18, 2008

  • ruzuzu commented on the word angst

    Cf. fluff.

    March 25, 2011