Word family noun rest unrest restlessness adjective restless rested restful verb rest adverb restlessly restfully
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrestlessrest‧less /ˈrestləs/ ●○○ adjective 1 MOVE/CHANGE POSITIONunwilling to keep still or stay where you are, especially because you are nervous or bored SYN fidgetybecome/grow/get restless The children had been indoors all day, and were getting restless.2 unwilling to stay in one place, and always wanting new experiences After a few weeks in Marseille, I grew restless and decided to move on.3 → restless night —restlessly adverb —restlessness noun [uncountable]Examples from the Corpus
restless• But once again I grew restless.• I went off so often Frank began to notice and I said the heat made me restless.• The kids quickly grew restless and impatient.• They have, almost as a birthright, a restless dissatisfaction with the status quo.• She drifted outside, restless even in the garden - was it too ordered?• His restless imagination led him to develop a revolutionary software product.• As a precaution, I taped plastic sheeting over both seats, in case he got restless on his perch.• Thinking a great many thoughts about home and the morrow, we dropped off at last into a restless sleep.become/grow/get restless• A man like that gets restless.• As one enthusiast to another they were soon deep in discussion until the children began to get restless.• But soon, I began to grow restless.• About the time Ed began getting restless, a family-owned firm in the same industry was looking for new blood.• First I fed and watered the spirits, who grew restless in their hunger.• As a precaution, I taped plastic sheeting over both seats, in case he got restless on his perch.• Frick was getting restless once again when the place simply exploded into action.• And the tourists, most of them, were getting restless - understandably so. 