gad

1. 1.

   an anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling or lightheadedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months

   Synonymsgeneralized anxiety disorderanxiety reaction

   Broaderanxiety disorder
2. 2.

   a sharp prod fixed to a rider's heel and used to urge a horse onward

   “cowboys know not to squat with their spurs on”

   Synonymsspur

   Broaderprod

   Part ofboot

   Partsrowel

1. 1.

   wander aimlessly in search of pleasure

   Synonymsgallivantjazz around

   Broaderroll

Other forms of gad

plural

gads·

past tense or participle

gadded

present participle

gadding

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about gad

What does gad mean?

gad means "an anxiety disorder characterized by chronic free-floating anxiety and such symptoms as tension or sweating or trembling or lightheadedness or irritability etc that has lasted for more than six months". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in gad?

gad has 1 syllable: gad. In IPA it is /ˈɡæd/.

What is another word for gad?

Close synonyms include generalized anxiety disorder, anxiety reaction, spur, gallivant, jazz around. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is gad a common word?

gad is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.