Adjectives, nouns, and verbs are three distinct parts of speech with individual and separate functions. We will explore in this article to which of these the word “worried” belongs.
The word “worried” is an adjective and a verb. The word “worried” will act as an adjective while it describes a singular or a plural noun, pronoun, or noun phrase. While the word “worried” represents or shows a past, present, or future action, state of being, or activity, it takes the role of a verb.
Through this article, we will understand some important facts about the word “worried” as an adjective and a verb.
When is “worried” an adjective?
“Worried” is an adjective while it gives us some information about nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases. Here, we will learn the various situations when “worried” is an adjective.
The following tabular column provides a detailed account of the situations when the word “worried” acts as an adjective with appropriate examples and related explanations.
| Situations When “Worried” Is An Adjective | Examples | Explanations |
| 1. When used to qualify a singular or plural naming word (mostly an individual) who is unhappy, upset, or sad about/by something or someone | Sahana was worried when she heard the unexpected news. | In this sentence, the word “worried” is describing the noun ‘Sahana’ (a person), and hence it is an adjective. The usage of the adjective “worried” indicates Sahana’s sad, unhappy, and upset state of mind when she heard the unexpected news. |
| 2. When utilized to qualify a naming word (a person or people) who is / are scared or anxious thinking something wrong or bad might occur by / to someone or something | Lisa was greatly worried about the test reports and results. | The adjective “worried” in this sentence is modifying the naming word ‘Lisa’ (a person). The adjective “worried” shows that Lisa was scared, thinking something might be bad or wrong with the test reports and results. |
Is “worried” a descriptive adjective?
Descriptive adjective, the most commonly used type of adjective gives a description of the noun it is modifying. We shall see if the word “worried” is a descriptive adjective.
The word “worried” is a descriptive adjective as it describes, qualifies, and modifies the naming word (singular or plural) by giving a description of its nature, state of mind, attitude, character, feature, or behavior.
Example: The worried look on Smith’s face conveyed the struggles he was undergoing.
The word “worried” is functioning as an adjective that is modifying the naming word ‘look’ in the above sentence. To be more specific and precise, “worried” is functioning as a descriptive adjective since it conveys the sad, upset, and unhappy nature of Smith’s look due to his struggles.
When is “worried” a descriptive adjective?
The word “worried” is a descriptive adjective when it states supplementary details about the upset, sad, frightened, or unhappy nature, behavior, or state of mind of the noun, noun phrase, or pronoun it describes or modifies.
Reading through the examples and explanations in the following table will provide a better understanding of the usage of the word “worried” as a descriptive adjective.
| Examples | Explanations – Usage Of “Worried” As A Descriptive Adjective |
| 1. Climatologists are worried about the changes in the global climate. | In this sentence, the predicate descriptive adjective “worried” is modifying the plural naming word ‘climatologists’ (people). The usage of the adjective “worried” here denotes the upset and frightened state of mind of the climatologists thinking about the bad effects the changes in the global climate might bring. |
| 2. Sandeep was worried that he might not be shortlisted for the job. | Here, “worried”, the predicate descriptive adjective is revealing the anxious and scared state of mind of Sandeep, thinking about not being shortlisted for the job. The naming word that the adjective “worried” is modifying here is ‘Sandeep’ (a person). |
| 3. The only reason why Raj does not allow her to go out with her friends is that he is worried about her safety. | The predicate descriptive adjective “worried” in this sentence is describing the pronoun ‘he’. The adjective “worried” is utilized to convey Raj’s frightened and anxious state of mind about her safety which is why he doesn’t allow her to go with her friends. |
| 4. The worried parents did not know what decision to make. | “Worried”, the attributive descriptive adjective here conveys the upset, sad, and unhappy nature and state of mind of the parents. The plural naming word that “worried” is modifying here is ‘parents’ (people). |
| 5. The worried expressions on the student’s faces said something was not fine. | In this sentence, the attributive descriptive adjective utilized in “worried” as it modifies the plural noun ‘expressions’. The adjective “worried” tells about the frightened and anxious nature of the expressions on the students’ faces which conveyed that something was not fine. |
| 6. Raheena was so worried that she started searching for you at all your friends’ places. | The predicate descriptive adjective “worried” here tell us about an upset and anxious state of mind of Raheena. The adjective “worried” here qualifies the naming word ‘Raheena’ (a person). |
| 7. The worried child kept looking for her mother all around the house. | In this sentence, the attributive descriptive adjective used is “worried” and it tells about the anxious and unhappy state of mind of the child by qualifying the naming word ‘child’ (a person). |
Is “worried” a noun?
When a word names one or more persons, places, things, ideas, feelings, emotions, animals, situations, etc., it is a noun. We shall check if the word “worried” names any of these.
The word “worried” is not a noun as it does not do the work of naming something or somebody but only qualifies a noun. However, ‘worry’ and ‘worries’ are the noun forms of the word “worried,” which are used to name a situation or a problem that causes one to be worried.
| Examples | Explanations |
| 1. I do not know why, but Mr. Sinha looked worried when I met him last evening. | The word “worried” in the given sentence is not a noun but an adjective since it describes the noun ‘Mr. Sinha’ (a person). The adjective “worried” tells additional information about Mr. Sinha’s unhappy, upset, and anxious nature and appearance when the speaker met him last evening. |
| 2. My only worry is that I was not there with him when he actually wanted me. | In this sentence, the word ‘worry’ is functioning as a noun since it names a situation of sadness when the speaker was not there with ‘him’ when ‘he’ wanted him / her. |
| 3. All his worries disappeared the moment he saw his son. | Here the word ‘worries’ (plural form of ‘worry’) is a noun since it names the problems that caused him unhappiness. |
Is “worried” a verb?
Certain words act as different parts of speech in different places without changing their form. We will find out if “worried” is such a word and if it can be a verb as well.
The word “worried” is and can be a verb at places where it represents an action, state of being, or activity that has already happened or occurred.
Example: Maha’s careless behavior worried her mother a lot.
The word “worried” in the sentence above is representing Maha’s mother’s anxious state of being, which was caused due to Maha’s careless behavior, and hence it is a verb here.
When is “worried” a verb?
The word “worried” is a verb when it shows the state of being, action, or activity of being sad, anxious, scared, upset, or unhappy sometime in the past.
The examples listed in the table which follows will guide us through the usage of the word “worried” as an action word (verb).
| Examples | Explanations – Usage Of “Worried” As A Verb |
| 1. Vaibhav was worried all day and night thinking about that incident. | The word “worried” is acting as a verb in this sentence since it is stating the action of Vaibhav being sad and upset all day and night thinking about that incident. |
| 2. It worried me so much even to imagine it might happen again. | Here, the verb “worried” represents the past activity of the speaker being scared and anxious even to imagine ‘it’ would happen again. |
| 3. The news of the mishap worried almost everyone in the company. | The verb “worried” in the given sentence is showing the past action of everyone in the company being sad and upset about the mishap. |
| 4. Ruhana worried about her mother’s health condition. | “Worried”, the verb in this sentence is representing the past activity of Ruhana being upset, anxious, and unhappy about her mother’s health. |
| 5. Hanisha worried so much that she almost fell ill. | “Worried”, the verb here sentence is showing the action in the past when Hanisha was sad, frightened, and upset that she almost fell ill. |
Conclusion
Hence, this article has enlightened us about using the word “worried” both as an adjective and a verb. We also learned why the word “worried” cannot be a noun.
Hi… I am Sowndharya Jagadeeswaran, a university rank holder in M.A. English Literature. I have also done my master’s in Business Administration. Inquisitive as I am, my interest in action-oriented research helped me publish research papers in reputed journals. Now, as a career, I am an instructor where I teach young and adorable students the intricate technicalities of Public Speaking and Creative Writing. I also enjoy writing articles on topics I specialize and research in.
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