Link Centre Dictionary

fret

UK/fɹɛt/ US/fɹɛt/ fairly common
verb (12) noun (4)

verb

1.

worry unnecessarily or excessively

  • “don”
Synonyms
2.

be agitated or irritated

  • “don”
3.

provide (a musical instrument) with frets

  • “fret a guitar”
4.

become or make sore by or as if by rubbing

Synonyms
5.
6.

gnaw into; make resentful or angry

  • “The unjustice rankled her”
  • “his resentment festered”
Synonyms
7.

carve a pattern into

8.
9.

be too tight; rub or press

  • “This neckband is choking the cat”
Synonyms
10.

cause friction

  • “my sweater scratches”
Synonyms
11.

remove soil or rock

  • “Rain eroded the terraces”
Synonyms
12.

wear away or erode

Synonyms

noun

1.

agitation resulting from active worry

  • “don”
  • “;”
  • “s in a sweat about exams”
Synonyms
2.

a spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion

Synonyms
3.

an ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief)

  • “there was a simple fret at the top of the walls”
Synonyms
4.

a small bar of metal across the fingerboard of a musical instrument; when the string is stopped by a finger at the metal bar it will produce a note of the desired pitch

Origin

From Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to consume, devour, eat up”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)) + *etaną (“to eat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”)). The senses meaning “to chafe, rub” could also be due to sound-association with Anglo-Norman *freiter (modern dialectal French fretter), from Vulgar Latin *frictāre, frequentative of Latin fricāre, from fricō (“to chafe, rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”); compare Old French froter (modern French frotter). The chief difficulty is the lack of evidence of the Old French word. Cognates *Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”) *Low German freten (“to eat up”) *German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”) *Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraitan, “to devour”) *Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”) *Danish fråse (“to gorge”)

Phrases

  • fret saw
  • fret the gizzard
  • Greek fret

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower 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.