How to Use fretful in a Sentence

fretful

adjective

• He fell into a fretful sleep.
• McArthur’s turn to fly — and Behnken’s turn to spend that fretful time on the ground with their son, now 7.
  — Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2021
• To be robust but sour, like an alarm clock, is to make a fretful noise.
  — The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2023
• The curtain was drawn, and, after a minute or two, the crowd would become fretful.
  — David Denby, The New Yorker, 23 Mar. 2020
• For a lot of fretful white people, not just Phil Collins fans, those words may be music to the ears.
  — Jody Rosen, New York Times, 27 Aug. 2020
• The next morning, after a few hours of fitful, fretful sleep, the women went through the events again.
  — New York Times, 7 Dec. 2021
• Ana, by contrast, starts off in a state of fretful despair.
  — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 Sep. 2021
• Two of his fretful clients went so far as to pull all of their money out of the market, against his advice.
  — Robert Weisman, BostonGlobe.com, 3 Sep. 2019
• Dreher’s dance around the issue of race is a fretful, obsessive one.
  — Sarah Jones, New Republic, 25 Jan. 2018
• Before trying to support a fretful teenager, tense adults should take steps to calm their own nerves.
  — Lisa Damour, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2020
• Only long, fretful days haunted by many versions of the same question.
  — Candace Buckner, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Jan. 2023
• Pig is fretful and frightened about something lodged inside her head.
  — oregonlive, 4 Feb. 2022
• King was fretful about the delay; sponsors were clamoring for posts.
  — Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2017
• Even with seven machines, Carragher says queues at the Simons Center are long and fretful.
  — Eric Hand, Science | AAAS, 23 Jan. 2020
• Moments of humor peek through in the writing, but the overarching mood is one of angsty, fretful suspense.
  — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 2 July 2019
• As the fretful Pisces Moon meets up with apprehensive Saturn, sticking with what’s known might seem safer.
  — Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 31 May 2024
• Initially, Kotb was fretful about telling Schiffman about her desire to adopt.
  — Perri Ormont Blumberg, Southern Living, 25 Oct. 2019
• One of them has to crash, and my money’s on him — a nervous, fretful mess, undone by my mother’s break from reality.
  — Longreads, 20 Apr. 2022
• In São Paulo, Lula admitted to feeling fretful about the delay.
  — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2023
• An expectant parent of a certain type—cash-flush and availed of benzodiazepine, or maybe just fretful—will be dizzied by the options.
  — Damon Beres, The Atlantic, 28 Nov. 2022
• The period leading up to the expansion draft in June should be especially fretful for teams boasting depth along the blue line.
  — Tal Pinchevsky, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2016
• The story at the opposite corner of the country is no less fascinating or fretful.
  — Joan Meiners, The Arizona Republic, 11 Aug. 2022
• Fried potatoes are one of mankind’s greatest inventions, but deep-frying at home can be as fussy and fretful as clipping a frantic cat’s claws.
  — Washington Post, 17 June 2021
• Honestly, the most fretful part of the weekend centered around the 25-year-old kid facing shiny new pressure with a strangely fading fastball.
  — Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2022
• His shooting, in 1968, marked the end of something both for Warhol, who grew understandably fretful as a person, and for the culture, including the artistic avant-garde in which Warhol worked.
  — The New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2022
• Meetings are held about how and whether to respond; fretful talent partners must be reassured.
  — New York Times, 17 Apr. 2022
• Few, the ever fretful coach, seemed pleased not only to be spared the weight of expectations, but also in the knowledge that his team has blossomed as the regular season draws to a close.
  — Billy Witz, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2023
• But many still will attach that optimism to a fretful sentiment.
  — Dan Wiederer, chicagotribune.com, 2 Mar. 2018
• Israel is distinctly fretful at the sight of an American ally so swiftly thrown aside.
  — The Economist, 17 Oct. 2019
• In the last year, all of the interest and concern about VR and its cousin, augmented reality, was subsumed by the fretful conversation about generative artificial intelligence, and for good reason.
  — Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2024

Last Updated: 6 Dec 2024