Illustration of fret
- fret 2
fretted; fretting
1
2
: to cause to suffer emotional strain : vex
don't you fret yourself about me—
J. C. Powys
J. C. Powys3
: to pass (time) in fretting
a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage—William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare1
a
: to eat into something
b
: to affect something as if by gnawing or biting : grate
the … urgent voice fretted at his nerves—Graham Greene
Graham Greene2
b
: chafe
His back where the harness rubbed began to fret.
c
3
a
: to become vexed or worried
fretting over the high cost of feeding their families—Vance Packard
Vance Packard
b
of running water
: to become agitated
a brook fretting over rocks
1
a
: the action of wearing away : erosion
b
: a worn or eroded spot
2
: an agitation of mind : irritation
fretted; fretting
1
a
: to decorate with interlaced designs
b
: to form a pattern upon
2
: to enrich with embossed or pierced carved patterns
1
: an ornamental network
especially
: a medieval metallic or jeweled net for a woman's headdress
2
: an ornament or ornamental work often in relief consisting of small straight bars intersecting one another in right or oblique angles
: one of a series of ridges fixed across the fingerboard of a stringed musical instrument (such as a guitar)
fretless
adjective
fretted
adjective
Did you know?
Fret and Eating
Fret not about being unfamiliar with the history of the verb fret; we’ve got something for you to chew on. While fretting today usually involves a concern that is figuratively eating at someone, fret has older senses that apply to literal eating. Fret comes from the Old English verb fretan, “to devour,” which shares an ancestor with another verb, etan, the ancestor of eat. In centuries past, animals—or monsters, in the case of Grendel—were said to fret, as were substances that corrode, or eat away, at other substances. But it wasn’t long before fret was also applied to emotional experiences, as when someone frets over an all-consuming thought or trouble. While fret still carries the meanings of “to corrode,” “to fray,” and “to chafe,” among others, one is most likely to encounter its more angsty sense of “to worry or be concerned.”
Synonyms
Examples of fret in a Sentence
Verb (1)
over the span of thousands of years, the annual spring runoff fretted the rock, forming a deep channel
don't let the girth fret the horse's belly or you won't be able to ride him
don't fret over whether it will be sunny tomorrow, as there's nothing we can do about it
the stiff, starchy collar was fretting my neck, and I couldn't wait to change out of that costume
Noun (1)
one of my customers always gets into a fret if I'm so much as 15 minutes late delivering his newspaper
Recent Examples on the Web
Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2025
Buckley fretted over getting enough songs together to reward the faith that the powers that be had in him upon signing.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 25 Jan. 2025
Jim Harrington, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2025
So those who follow the team are left to fret and wonder.
—Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for fret 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Verb
The president's harsh immigration rhetoric on the campaign trail has led some college advocacy groups to fret over whether his administration would attempt to use FAFSA information to target students with undocumented family members.
—Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2025
Buckley fretted over getting enough songs together to reward the faith that the powers that be had in him upon signing.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 25 Jan. 2025
Noun
That thickness in the air, where the rhythm work wraps you like a sleeping bag, served as an unexpected stage for Altura to showcase his rapid-fire fret work.
—Jim Harrington, The Mercury News, 24 Jan. 2025
So those who follow the team are left to fret and wonder.
—Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for fret
Dictionary Entries Near fret
Cite this Entry
“Fret.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fret. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fret
1 of 4 verb
fretted; fretting
1
: to make or become worried
fret over a problem
2
: to eat into or wear away
adobe fretted clean by wind and sand
fret
2 of 4 noun
: an irritated or worried state
in a fret
fret
3 of 4 noun
: an ornamental design of short lines or bars
fret
4 of 4 noun
: one of a series of ridges fixed across the fingerboard of a stringed musical instrument
fretless
adjective
ˈfret-ləs
fretted
adjective
ˈfret-əd
Etymology
Verb
Old English fretan "to devour"
Noun
Middle English fret, fretted "interwoven," from early French fretté, past participle of fretter "to tie"
Noun
perhaps from early French frete "connecting sleeve"
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