concern
HighNeutral to formal; commonly used in professional, academic, and everyday contexts.
Definition
Meaning
To relate to, affect, or involve someone or something; a matter of interest, worry, or importance.
As a noun, it can mean a business or company; as a verb, it implies causing anxiety or being the responsibility of someone.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
The word spans a spectrum from neutral relevance ('This concerns you') to strong emotional worry ('Her health is a major concern'). The noun for a business is a distinct, formal usage.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
Minimal. 'Concern' is used identically. Spelling of related words may differ (e.g., UK: 'concerned', US: 'concerned').
Connotations
Identical.
Frequency
Equally high frequency in both varieties.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
concern somebody/somethingbe concerned with/about somethingconcern oneself with somethingIt concerns somebody that...As far as [sb] is concerned...Vocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “as far as I'm concerned”
- “to whom it may concern”
- “a going concern”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
A 'going concern' is a viable company. Shareholders have concerns about quarterly results.
Academic
The central concern of this paper is to examine the socio-economic factors.
Everyday
My main concern is getting to the airport on time.
Technical
Patient-reported safety concerns were logged in the database.
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- This policy chiefly concerns new residents.
- The report concerns itself with urban planning issues.
American English
- This memo concerns the upcoming budget review.
- What happens in the department doesn't concern him.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- This letter concerns your appointment.
- I have a concern about the homework.
- The teacher's main concern is student safety.
- The article concerns climate change in Europe.
- Environmental concerns are influencing government policy.
- He didn't concern himself with the administrative details.
- The novel is concerned with the protagonist's moral ambiguities.
- Rising inflation is a paramount concern for the central bank.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Imagine a CONCERT where the organiser is very CONCERNED about the sound levels affecting neighbours: The CONCERT of CONCERN.
Conceptual Metaphor
CONCERN IS POSSESSION ('This is my concern'), CONCERN IS WEIGHT ('a matter of great concern'), CONCERN IS AFFECTION/CARE ('shows concern for').
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- False friend: 'концерн' in Russian means a large industrial corporation, which is only a minor, formal meaning in English.
- Beware of overusing 'concern' for simple relevance; Russian 'касаться' often maps to 'concern' but 'relate to' or 'involve' might be more natural.
- Confusing the adjective 'concerned' (озабоченный) with the passive participle (рассматриваемый) as in 'the concerned parties'.
Common Mistakes
- Incorrect preposition: 'concerned on' (correct: concerned about/with).
- Using 'concerning' incorrectly as a conjunction meaning 'about' in formal writing ('Concerning the matter, I think...' is awkward; use 'Regarding' or 'With regard to').
- Misusing the countable/uncountable noun: 'I have a concern' (specific worry) vs. 'I feel concern' (general feeling).
Practice
Quiz
In the phrase 'a going concern', what does 'concern' mean?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
It is both very common, but corpus data shows the noun usage (e.g., 'a major concern') is slightly more frequent than the verb.
In both UK (/kənˈsɜːnd/) and US (/kənˈsɝːnd/) English, the final 'ed' is pronounced as a /d/ sound after the nasal /n/.
'Concerned with' typically means 'dealing with/involved with' (This book is concerned with history). 'Concerned about' means 'worried about' (She is concerned about her exams).
Yes, but it's somewhat formal. It means 'regarding' or 'about' (Concerning your request, we need more information). In informal speech, 'about' or 'regarding' is often preferred.
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