Definition of ANGST

angst

Plural: angsts

Noun

  • A feeling of deep anxiety, dread, or apprehension.
  • an acute but unspecific feeling of anxiety; usually reserved for philosophical anxiety about the world or about personal freedom
  • Emotional turmoil; painful sadness; anguish.
  • A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
  • Fiction focusing on characters experiencing strong emotions and conflicts with other characters.

Verb

  • To suffer angst; to fret.

Examples

  • The existential ANGST of having a rack full of vowels is familiar to all Words With Friends players.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed from German Angst or Danish angst; attested since the 19th century in English translations of the works of Søren Kierkegaard. Initially capitalized (as in German and contemporaneous Danish), 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-Germanic *angustiz; Dutch angst is cognate. Compare Swedish ångest.

Scrabble Score: 6

angst: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
angst: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
angst: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

angst: valid Words With Friends Word