- The definition of a fret is a worry or an annoyance.
An example of fret is the fear of living by one's self for the first time.
- Fret is defined as to feel worry or annoyance about something.
An example of fret is to fear a move into college.
A woman fretting about something.
fret
transitive verb
fretted, fretting- to eat away; gnaw
- to wear away by gnawing, rubbing, corroding, etc.
- to make or form by wearing away
- to make rough; disturb: wind fretting the water
- to irritate; vex; annoy; worry
Origin of fret
Middle English freten ; from Old English fretan, to devour, akin to German fressen, Gothic fra-itan ; from Germanic prefix an unverified form fra- (OE for-: see for-) + an unverified form itan, to eat (OE etan: see eat)intransitive verb
- to gnaw (into, on, or upon)
- to become eaten, corroded, worn, frayed, etc.
- to become rough or disturbed
- to be irritated, annoyed, or querulous; worry
noun
- a wearing away
- a worn place
- irritation; worry
Related Forms:
- fretter
noun
noun
- an ornamental net or network, esp. one formerly worn by women as a headdress
- an ornamental pattern of small, straight bars intersecting or joining one another, usually at right angles, to form a regular design, as for a border or in an architectural relief
Origin of fret
Middle English frette, probably merging of Old French frete (Fr frette), interlaced work, with Old English frætwa, ornament (from source uncertain or unknown; perhaps Old French frete)
noun
Origin of fret
Old French frette, a band, ferruleRelated Forms:
- fretless
adjective
fret
verb
fret·ted, fret·ting, fretsverb
, intransitive- To be vexed or troubled; worry. See Synonyms at brood.
- To be worn or eaten away; become corroded.
- To move agitatedly.
- To gnaw with the teeth in the manner of a rodent.
verb
, transitive- To cause to be uneasy; vex: “fret thy soul with crosses and with cares” (Edmund Spenser).
- a. To gnaw or wear away; erode.b. To produce a hole or worn spot in; corrode.
- To form (a passage or channel) by erosion.
- To disturb the surface of (water or a stream); agitate.
noun
- The act or an instance of fretting.
- A hole or worn spot made by abrasion or erosion.
- Irritation of mind; agitation.
Origin of fret
Middle English freten, from Old English fretan, to devour; see ed- in Indo-European roots.
noun
transitive verb
fret·ted, fret·ting, frets- To provide with frets.
- To press (the strings of an instrument) against the frets.
Origin of fret
Origin unknown.
fret2
on the neck of an
electric guitar
noun
- An ornamental design consisting of repeated and symmetrical geometric figures, often in relief, contained within a band or border. Also called key pattern.
- A headdress, worn by women of the Middle Ages, consisting of interlaced wire.
transitive verb
fret·ted, fret·ting, fretsOrigin of fret
Middle English, interlaced work, from Old French frete.
fret3
fret designs
fret
(third-person singular simple present frets, present participle fretting, simple past fretted, fret, freet or frate, past participle fretted or fretten (usually in compounds))
- Wiseman
- Many wheals arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation.
- (and intransitive) To gnaw, consume, eat away.
- (intransitive) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
- A wristband frets on the edges.
- To cut through with fretsaw, create fretwork.
- To chafe or irritate; to worry.
- (intransitive) To worry or be anxious.
- To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions.
- To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple.
- to fret the surface of water
- To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle.
- Rancour frets in the malignant breast.
- (music) To press down the string behind a fret.
- To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify.
(plural frets)
- The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
- Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
- He keeps his mind in a continual fret.
- Herpes; tetter.
- (mining, in the plural) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins.
From Middle English freten, from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour”), from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to devour”), corresponding to for- + eat. Cognate with Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”), Low German freten (“to eat up”), German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”), Danish fråse (“to gorge”), Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”), Gothic (fraitan), - (fra-itan, “to devour”).
(plural frets)
Middle English < Old French, from the verb freter, probably from the Latin frictō, frequentive of fricō (“I rub”). See friction.
- fretum
- transfrete
From Latin fretum (“strait, channel”)
(plural frets)
Unknown
- (physics) Förster resonance energy transfer
- (physics) fluorescence resonance energy transfer, which is a type of the Förster phenomenon where one or both of the partners in the energy transfer are fluorescent chromophores
