Eager
/iɡə/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjDesirous; keen to do or obtain something.
adjNot employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.
Sentence Examples
We are all eager for him to win the Nobel prize.
Our staff is eager to help you.
As soon as we arrived on the island we were eager to explore.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ students quickly raised their hands to answer the difficult question.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We are all ____ for him to win the Nobel prize.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-rós Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱrós Proto-Italic *akris Classical Latin ācer Late Latin ācrus Old French aigrebor. Middle English egre English 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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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 |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:
"a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys"
— 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
"When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him.[…]. 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:
"gold itself will be sometimes so eager, (as artists call it), that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself"
— 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
"like eager droppings into milk"
— 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 Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 9:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ students quickly raised their hands to answer the difficult question.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We are all ____ for him to win the Nobel prize.