Feeling anxious or nervous about something; thinking repeatedly about potential problems or dangers.
From Old English 'wyrgan,' meaning 'to strangle.' The metaphorical meaning (mental stress) developed because worry feels like it's choking or strangling your peace of mind. The shift from physical to emotional happened by the 1500s.
Worry is essentially mental time-travel to potential futures—and research shows that chronic worriers are terrible at predicting what will actually happen! Most worried-about scenarios never occur, making worry one of the least useful emotions evolutionarily, yet it's universal across cultures.
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