Definition of athirstnext

Synonym Chooser

How is the word athirst distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of athirst are anxious, avid, eager, and keen. While all these words mean "moved by a strong and urgent desire or interest," athirst stresses yearning but not necessarily readiness for action.

athirst for adventure

When might anxious be a better fit than athirst?

The synonyms anxious and athirst are sometimes interchangeable, but anxious emphasizes fear of frustration or failure or disappointment.

anxious not to make a social blunder

How do avid and eager relate to one another, in the sense of athirst?

Avid adds to eager the implication of insatiability or greed.

avid for new thrills

In what contexts can eager take the place of athirst?

The meanings of eager and athirst largely overlap; however, eager implies ardor and enthusiasm and sometimes impatience at delay or restraint.

eager to get started

When would keen be a good substitute for athirst?

In some situations, the words keen and athirst are roughly equivalent. However, keen suggests intensity of interest and quick responsiveness in action.

keen on the latest fashions

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for athirst
Adjective
  • White is excited about his future, and plans to perform at this year's Minnesota State Fair.
    Tony Peterson, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2026
  • But the nail in the coffin for her family was the bike course, which her niece was most excited for.
    Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Kari Morgan, a Ramona resident and avid hiker, came to the opening ceremony.
    Julie Gallant, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Julia is also an amateur powerlifter, avid outdoor explorer, and proud cat mom to Jeeves, her long-haired tuxedo kitty.
    Julia Sullivan, Outside, 26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Organizers said sign-ups have been especially enthusiastic in suburban areas with high-profile congressional races like Scottsdale, Arizona; Langhorne, Pennsylvania; East Cobb, Georgia; and here in northern New Jersey’s 11th district, which holds a special election April 7.
    Steve Peoples, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2026
  • So enthusiastic that they were invited back to perform at the 2025 MusicCares, which honored the Grateful Dead.
    George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • But Pineda brings the matter up many times, and is eager to defend himself.
    Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 31 Mar. 2026
  • With Archer’s amicable exit, the Princess of Wales is eager for the focus to be on her work rather than her outfits.
    Laura Scafati, Vanity Fair, 31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Here’s how Blum describes the process of turning Schneider into a company able to move at the speed of its energy-hungry customers.
    Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 27 Mar. 2026
  • The nod to Star Wars is intentional, and the landscape does seem like a new frontier—representing not just Meta’s stratospheric AI ambitions, but the financial, energy-hungry reality of building the infrastructure that underpins the AI boom.
    Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel each day, disrupting the lives of millions of anxious and exhausted voters.
    Melanie Lidman, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Investors have grown more anxious about inflation, with Treasury yields rising and consumer surveys showing short‑term price expectations drifting upward.
    Brendan Cole, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • That hydration-first focus is exactly what Torriden has built its reputation around, with gentle formulas designed to keep dry, thirsty skin feeling balanced.
    Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 21 Mar. 2026
  • The truck came with a set of P 275/65/18 all-season highway tires that rode nicely and helped the truck achieve pretty decent fuel economy (for a truck with a very thirsty reputation) and a range of over 500 miles.
    Bryan Rogala, Outside, 19 Mar. 2026
Adjective
  • His grandfather had been an ardent Zionist who, in 1975, sold his house, on Long Island, and moved to Beersheba, a city in southern Israel.
    Eyal Press, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Some of the silence is designed to amplify the missing, the previously ignored, the co-opted, the terrorized, the gaslighted, and excluded voices of the country’s most ardent supporters of a multiracial democracy.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Mar. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Athirst.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/athirst. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster