Library / English Dictionary

CONCERN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that interests you because it is important or affects you

Example:

the safety of the ship is the captain's concern

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("concern" is a kind of...):

interest; involvement (a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "concern"):

earth; earthly concern; world; worldly concern (the concerns of this life as distinguished from heaven and the afterlife)

affair; matter; thing (a vaguely specified concern)

affairs; personal business; personal matters (matters of personal concern)

part (that which concerns a person with regard to a particular role or situation)

point of honor (a concern that seriously reflects on your honor)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness

Example:

it's a major worry

Synonyms:

concern; headache; vexation; worry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("concern" is a kind of...):

negative stimulus (a stimulus with undesirable consequences)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "concern"):

bugaboo (a source of concern)

burden; encumbrance; incumbrance; load; onus (an onerous or difficult concern)

business (a rightful concern or responsibility)

Derivation:

concern (be on the mind of)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A feeling of sympathy for someone or something

Example:

She felt strong concern for those less fortunate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("concern" is a kind of...):

fellow feeling; sympathy (sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "concern"):

solicitousness; solicitude (a feeling of excessive concern)

softheartedness; tenderness (a feeling of concern for the welfare of someone (especially someone defenseless))

Antonym:

unconcern (a feeling of lack of concern)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An anxious feeling

Example:

they hushed it up out of fear of public reaction

Synonyms:

care; concern; fear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("concern" is a kind of...):

anxiety (a vague unpleasant emotion that is experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-defined) misfortune)

Derivation:

concern (be on the mind of)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it

Example:

a racially integrated business concern

Synonyms:

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("concern" is a kind of...):

enterprise (an organization created for business ventures)

Meronyms (members of "concern"):

division (an administrative unit in government or business)

Domain category:

business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)

Domain member category:

shipping room (a room where goods are packaged and shipped)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "concern"):

underperformer (a business that is less successful than expected)

shipbuilder (a business that builds and repairs ships)

processor (a business engaged in processing agricultural products and preparing them for market)

partnership (the members of a business venture created by contract)

maker; manufacturer; manufacturing business (a business engaged in manufacturing some product)

dealership; franchise (a business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area)

business firm; firm; house (the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments)

chain ((business) a number of similar establishments (stores or restaurants or banks or hotels or theaters) under one ownership)

carrier; common carrier (a person or firm in the business of transporting people or goods or messages)

brokerage (the business of a broker; charges a fee to arrange a contract between two parties)

agency (a business or organization that provides a particular service, especially the mediation of transactions between two parties)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be relevant to

Example:

My remark pertained to your earlier comments

Synonyms:

bear on; come to; concern; have to do with; pertain; refer; relate; touch; touch on

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Verb group:

advert; allude; touch (make a more or less disguised reference to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "concern"):

center; center on; concentrate on; focus on; revolve about; revolve around (center upon)

apply; go for; hold (be pertinent or relevant or applicable)

affect; involve; regard (connect closely and often incriminatingly)

interest; matter to (be of importance or consequence)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be on the mind of

Example:

I worry about the second Germanic consonant shift

Synonyms:

concern; interest; occupy; worry

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will concern him

Derivation:

concern (something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness)

concern (an anxious feeling)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Research concerning sensors or devices usually attached to or embedded in the human body or other living animal to record and to transmit physiologic data to a receiving and monitoring station.

(Bioinstrument Application and Development, NCI Thesaurus)

This is enough to say upon the subject of my diet, wherewith other travellers fill their books, as if the readers were personally concerned whether we fare well or ill.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The science concerned with the genes and genetic structure of bacteriophages.

(Bacteriophage Genetics, NCI Thesaurus)

The science concerned with the normal processes of hearing

(Auditory Physiology, NCI Thesaurus)

The science concerned with the chemical and physical nature of genes and the genome.

(Biochemical Genetics, NCI Thesaurus)

Disciplines concerned with the study of human and animal behavior.

(Behavioral Sciences, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A subspecialty of internal medicine concerned with the study of neoplasms.

(Medical Oncology, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A branch of biology concerned with the development, anatomy, function, and dysfunction of the nervous system.

(Neurobiology, NCI Thesaurus)

A branch of neurology concerned with the chemistry of the nervous system.

(Neurochemistry, NCI Thesaurus)

There was a thought yet nearer, a more prevailing, more impetuous concern.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)