Link Centre Dictionary

frazzle

UK/ˈfɹæz(ə)l/ US/ˈfræzʌl/ uncommon informal
noun (1) verb (2)

noun

1.

a state of extreme exhaustion

  • “he was worn to a frazzle”

verb

1.

wear away by rubbing

  • “The friction frayed the sleeve”
Synonyms
2.

exhaust physically or emotionally

  • “She was frazzled after the visit of her in-laws”

Origin

Originally an East Anglian word. Either from a variant of the now obsolete fazle (“to unravel”), altered due to influence from fray, or from a blend of fazle and fray. fazle comes from earlier fasel, which was inherited from Middle English facelyn (“[of the end of a rope, or of cloth] to unravel”). Middle English facelyn was a verbal derivative of the noun fasylle (“frayed edge”), which was in turn a derivative (with the diminutive suffix -el) of Old English fæs (“fringe, border”), from Proto-West Germanic *fas, from Proto-Germanic *fasōn. Related to German Faser (“fibre”).

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.