: to press (the strings of a stringed instrument) against the frets
Did you know?
Fret and Eating
The meat-and-potatoes meaning of fret is "to eat." The verb is used literally, as in "Mothsfretted the clothing," but more often figuratively to describe actions that corrode or wear away. A river "frets away" at its banks, or something might be said to be "fretted out" with time or age. Fret also applies to emotional experiences so that something that "eats away at someone" is "fretting the heart or mind."
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
Verb
These were not men like Elon Musk fretting about virility as some bulwark against extinction.—Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 16 June 2024 Some of the issues with journalism as an industry right now are more or less own goals that no amount of worrying about AI or fretting about subscription numbers will fix.—A.w. Ohlheiser, Vox, 13 June 2024
Noun
But fret not, using a dehumidifier can help keep humidity at bay, which is safer for your health and home.—Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 18 June 2024 But 60% fret that the technology could add to their stress and burnout, and roughly the same number feel insecure about their job.—Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 31 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for fret
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fret.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Verb (1) and Noun (1)
Middle English, to devour, fret, from Old English fretan to devour; akin to Old High German frezzan to devour, ezzan to eat — more at eat
Verb (2)
Middle English, back-formation from fret, fretted adorned, interwoven, from Anglo-French fretté, past participle of fretter to tie, probably from Vulgar Latin *firmitare, from Latin firmus firm
Noun (3)
perhaps from Middle French frete ferrule, from freter
Share