English Meaning & Definitions
The quality or state of being increasingly impatient, uneasy, or restless, often in response to control, restriction, or delay.
- “A growing restiveness among employees led to demands for better working conditions.”
- “The crowd's restiveness was palpable as the concert started an hour late.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
English Antonyms & Opposites
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “restiveness”.
Derived from the adjective 'restive' (ultimately from Old French 'restif', meaning 'resistant, stubborn, stopping short', from the Latin verb 'restare' meaning 'to stay back, remain'), combined with the noun-forming suffix '-ness'. Originally used to describe a horse that stubbornly refuses to move forward, the term evolved to describe any state of nervous impatience, agitation, or resistance to control.
Think of a restless animal that refuses to stay put—'restive' sounds like 'restless', and its '-ness' gives you the quality of being impatient or hard to control.
Frequently Asked Questions About “restiveness”
1. What is the meaning of “restiveness” in English?
In English, restiveness (noun) is defined as: “The quality or state of being increasingly impatient, uneasy, or restless, often in response to control, restriction, or delay.”.
2. How do you use “restiveness” in a sentence?
“A growing restiveness among employees led to demands for better working conditions.”
3. What are English synonyms of “restiveness”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “restiveness”?
Derived from the adjective 'restive' (ultimately from Old French 'restif', meaning 'resistant, stubborn, stopping short', from the Latin verb 'restare' meaning 'to stay back, remain'), combined with the noun-forming suffix '-ness'. Originally used to describe a horse that stubbornly refuses to move forward, the term evolved to describe any state of nervous impatience, agitation, or resistance to control.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.
A specific duration of time equivalent to one hour and forty-six minutes.