antsy
informal idiom

- restless, fidgety
- impatient, eager

Merriam-Webster

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ORIGIN

Hard-working and tireless, ants are known as one of nature's most industrious species. It seems they never stop moving. From this comes the idiom “to have ants in one’s pants” (US-English = pants, UK-English = trousers) and from this evolved the adjective ANTSY.

The term "ant" is from the Middle English "ampte" and Old English "æmette," both of which stemmed from the West Germanic "amaitjo" (cognate with the modern German word for ant, Ameise), which in turn was formed from two base terms: ai, meaning away from/off + mai, meaning to cut. Ant thus literally means "the biter off."

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SYNONYMS

aflutter, ANTSY, anxious, atwitter, dithery, edgy, fidgety, het up, hung up, hyper, ill at ease, impatient, insecure, jittery, jumpy, nervous, nervy, on edge, perturbed, tense, uneasy, unquiet, uptight, wired

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Practice OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:

“They need to act quickly, their investors are getting ANTSY.”

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Paul Smith