eager
Syllables: ea·gerUK/ˈiːɡə//ˈiɡɚ/
eager adjective: desirous; keen to do or obtain something. Also the alternative form of eagre.
Adjective
eager (comparative more eager or eagerer, superlative most eager or eagerest)
- Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
- Stacey is very eager to go cycling this weekend.
- The hounds were eager in the chase.
- Synonyms:
- bursting
- Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.
- an eager algorithm
- Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.
- gold itself will be sometimes so eager, (as artists call it), that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC
- Sharp; sour; acid.
- like eager droppings into milkc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.
- If so thou thinkest, vex him with eager words.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- It is a nipping and an eager air.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
Verb
eager (third-person singular simple present eagers, present participle eagering, simple past and past participle eagered)
- To be or become eager.
- Now everybody considered it a high privilege (valued it at a high consideration) to see him and to hear him speak, and to obey his command (him commanding), whereas he, though being such a person, eagered to be unknown, and to escape notice in solitude.1864, The Fathers, Historians, and Writers of the Church, page 121
- Our spirits fret and chafe like sea waves on the rocks eagering to climb the shore.1913, William Alfred Quayle, The Climb to God, page 116
- To express eagerness.
- His hair crinkled towards her fondly. "Yes," he eagered.1924, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Punch - Volume 167, page 181
- Peg! eager voices eagered voicely.1969, Kenneth Patchen, Sleepers Awake, page 141
- To make or encourage to be eager
- Physicians also admit to eagering patients to turn to specialised web sites in order to read further.2013, Andrzej Łyda, Krystyna Warchał, Occupying Niches, page 135
- But they only eagered him to be off .1927, Carleton Beals, Brimstone and Chili
Proper noun capitalized: Eager
Eager (plural Eagers)
- A surname.
Also used as
eager is also the alternative form of eagre.
eager meaning in Hindi, Gujarati, Sanskrit and Arabic
eager in Hindi
- wanting something very much
- तत्पर tatpar, आतुर ātur, उत्सुक utsuk
eager in Gujarati
- આતુર
eager in Sanskrit
- wanting something very much
- गृध्र gṛdhra
eager in Arabic
- wanting something very much
- مُشْتَاق muštāq
More languagesFewer languages
- eager in Vietnamese
- ham, hăm hở
Examples of eager in a sentence
- I was eager to show my teacher how much I'd learned over the holidays.
- You stayed up all night to get to the front of the queue. You must be very eager to get tickets.
- When to her eager lips is brought / Her infant's thrilling kiss.1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify...
- The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- The buggy jolted on, the stout, wellkept team eagering, homing, barning.1932, William Faulkner, Light in August:
- After entering college, I eagered to have a parttime job.2002, Mark F. Harris, A Distant Place, page 198:
Synonyms of eager
Antonyms
Forms of eager
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more eager |
| comparative | eagerer |
| superlative | most eager |
| superlative | eagerest |
| alternative form (obsolete) | aigre |
| alternative form (obsolete) | eagre |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | eagers |
| present participle | eagering |
| past participle | eagered |
| past | eagered |
| Noun | |
| plural | eagers |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Eagers |
Origin of eager
Inherited from Middle English egre, eger, from Old French aigre, egre (modern French aigre), from Latin ācrus, variant of ācer (“sharp, keen”); see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.
See eagre.
Words formed from eager
Phrases with eager
Words that rhyme with eager
Questions about eager
- What does eager mean?
- Eager means desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
- What is eager in Hindi?
- Eager in Hindi is तत्पर (tatpar), आतुर (ātur), उत्सुक (utsuk). See Eager meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use eager in a sentence?
- I was eager to show my teacher how much I'd learned over the holidays.
- What part of speech is eager?
- Eager can be an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce eager?
- Eager is pronounced /ˈiɡɚ/ (US).
Words near eager in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: eager (page history and authors); Eager (page history and authors); eager (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-eager.ogg.
Cite this entry: “eager.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/eager. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.