What does "fret" mean?
Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
Fret
/fɹɛt/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
- Grammar: fret is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: ablate, abrade, abrade, abrase.
- Useful contrasts: steady characteristic, unfretted, calm.
- Usage evidence: You need not fret over such trifles.
How to use "fret"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "fret" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "fret" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "fret" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "fret" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "fret" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "ablate" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "fret", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
"Now though Cider uſed in my Method ſhould not ferment at all, till it come into the Bottle, and then but a little; yet the Cauſe of Fermentation being in a great Degree taken away, the reſt can do no conſiderable Harm to thoſe who drink it, [...] It is in your Power to give the Cider juſt as much fret as you pleaſe, and no more; and that by ſeveral ways: For either you may bottle it ſooner or later, as you pleaſe: Or you may bottle it from two Taps in your Veſſel, and that from the higher Tap will have leſs Fret, and the lower more: [...]"
- 2 An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines, often in relief.
"Went to visit our good neighbor, Mr. Bohun, whose whole house is a cabinet of all elegancies, especially Indian; [...] [A]bove all, his lady's cabinet is adorned on the fret, ceiling, and chimney-piece with Mr. Gibbons's best carving."
- 3 One of the pieces of metal, plastic or wood across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument that marks where a finger should be positioned to depress a string as it is played.
"The long-necked Egyptian Nefer was certainly depicted in the 4th dynasty; and wall-painting of the time of Moses, preserved in the British Museum, shows that it then had frets."
- 4 A channel, a strait; a fretum.
"I came in fine to the fourth part of the world, commonly called America, which by all deſcriptions I found to be an Iſland enuironed around about with the Sea, hauing on the Southſide of it, the frete, or ſtraight of Magellan, [...]"
- 5 A channel or passage created by the sea. rare
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 A fog or mist at sea, or coming inland from the sea. Northumbria
"The wind brings a fret off the ocean; not cold, but achingly damp."
- 7 Förster resonance energy transfer countable, uncountable
- 8 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 wordnet
- 9 Agitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
"He keeps his mind in a continual fret."
- 10 A saltire interlaced with a mascle.
"DIAPERED, or Diapre, in heraldry, the dividing of a field in planes, like fret-work, and filling the ſame with variety of figures. This chiefly obtains on bordures, which are diapered or fretted over, and the frets charged with things proper for bordures."
- 11 A ferrule, a ring. dialectal, obsolete
- 12 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 countable, uncountable
"2010, DeRocco et al., "Four-color single-molecule fluorescence with noncovalent dye labeling to monitor dynamic multimolecular complexes", BioTechniques, vol 49, no 5, pg. 807. FRET interactions among four dyes on DNA have been recorded with a confocal microscope using photodiodes for single point detection."
- 13 an ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief) wordnet
- 14 Herpes; tetter (“any of various pustular skin conditions”).
"Vesiculæ, or vesicles, are small, circumscribed elevations of the scarf-skin, containing serum, at first (both in their coats and contents) transparent, afterwards white and opaque, and terminating in the formation of scurf or thin scales. Under this head are ranged varicella (chicken-pox), sudamina, eczema (red fret), herpes (fret), scabies (itch)."
- 15 a spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion wordnet
- 16 The worn sides of riverbanks, where ores or stones containing them accumulate after being washed down from higher ground, which thus indicate to miners the locality of veins of ore. in-plural
"Then we obſerve the Frets in the Banks of Rivers that are newly made by any great Land-Flood, which uſually are then very clean, to ſee, if happily we can diſcover any metalline Stones in the Sides and Bottoms thereof, together with the Caſt of the Country (i.e. any earth of a different colour from the reſt of the Bank), which is a great help to direct us, which ſide or hill to ſearch into."
- 17 agitation resulting from active worry wordnet
Verb
- 1 Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat. obsolete, poetic, transitive
"At the beginning God gaue the dome him ſelfe / That Adam and Eue and all them that ſewed, / Shuld dye down right and dwell in pyne after, / If that they touched a tree and the frute eaten, / Adam afterwarde agaynſt hys defence / freet of that frute, and forſake as it were, / The loue of our lord and his lore bothe, [...]"
- 2 To decorate or ornament, especially with an interlaced or interwoven pattern, or (architecture) with carving or relief (raised) work. transitive
"In a long purple pall, whose ſkirt with gold, / Was fretted all about, ſhe was arayd, [...]"
- 3 To bind, to tie, originally with a loop or ring.
- 4 wear away or erode wordnet
- 5 To chafe or irritate; to worry. transitive
"A Perſon of Honour, of a full Body abounding with ſharp Humours, was ſeized with an Herpes on his right Leg. [...] [I]t inflamed and ſwelled very much, many Wheals aroſe, and fretted one into another, with great Excoriation."
Show 23 more definitions
- 6 To form a pattern on; to variegate. transitive
"Decius. Here lyes the Eaſt: doth not the Day breake heere? [...] Cin[na]. O pardon, Sir, it doth; and yon grey Lines, / That fret the Clouds, are Meſſengers of Day."
- 7 Musical senses.; To fit frets on to (a musical instrument). transitive
"to fret a guitar"
- 8 remove soil or rock wordnet
- 9 To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple. transitive
"to fret the surface of water"
- 10 To cut through with a fretsaw, to create fretwork. transitive
- 11 Musical senses.; To press down the string behind a fret. transitive
"Note that right next to the headstock, the boxes may utilize some open notes in place of fretting with the pointer finger because the nut will effectively fret the notes for you[…]."
- 12 cause friction wordnet
- 13 In the form fret out: to squander, to waste. transitive
"Yorke hereupon conſults with his ſpeciall friends; [...] how Yorke might get the Crowne of England, and for that cauſe how to ruine or fret out the Duke of Sommerſet; who ſtanding, they were to looke for ſtrong oppoſition."
- 14 be too tight; rub or press wordnet
- 15 To gnaw; to consume, to eat away. ambitransitive
"VVhen thrid of life is almoſt fret in twaine, To giue it ſtrength breeds thankes, and wonders too."
- 16 decorate with an interlaced design wordnet
- 17 To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry. ambitransitive
"Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither bee thou enuious againſt the workers of iniquitie."
- 18 carve a pattern into wordnet
- 19 To be worn away; to chafe; to fray. intransitive
"A wristband frets on the edges."
- 20 be agitated or irritated wordnet
- 21 To be anxious, to worry. intransitive
"With this answer Elizabeth was forced to be content; but her own opinion continued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her disposition."
- 22 gnaw into; make resentful or angry wordnet
- 23 To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion. intransitive
"Rancour frets in the malignant breast."
- 24 cause annoyance in wordnet
- 25 To have secondary fermentation (fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in beers and wine) take place. intransitive
"If their Cherries are full ripe and ſweet, they put only a Pound and an half of good Sugar to each gallon of Liquor, ſtir it well together, and cover it cloſe, and ſtir it no more till the next Day, then pour it carefully off the Lees as before; then let it ſtand again, and do the ſame the next Day into the Veſſel they keep it in: This may be repeated oftner, if they ſee the Lees are groſs, and like to make it fret when it is ſettled, then ſtop it up till ſeven or eight Months are paſs'd; at which time if perfectly fine, they bottle it; [...]"
- 26 worry unnecessarily or excessively wordnet
- 27 become or make sore by or as if by rubbing wordnet
- 28 provide (a musical instrument) with frets wordnet
Example
"You need not fret over such trifles."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "fret"?
Common synonyms include: ablate, abrade, abrade, abrase, ache, achievement.
How do you use "fret" in a sentence?
You need not fret over such trifles.
How do you pronounce "fret"?
Pronounced /fɹɛt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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”)
Etymology 2
From Middle English frēten (“to decorate”), from Old French freté, freter, fretter (“to fret (decorate with an interlacing pattern)”), from Old French fret (from fraindre (“to break”), from Latin frangō (“to break, shatter”), from Proto-Italic *frangō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”)) + Old French -er (suffix forming verbs) (from Latin -āre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂- (“to burden, charge”)).
Etymology 3
From Middle English freten (“to bind”), from Old French freter, from frete (“ferrule, ring”) (modern French frette). The origin of the music senses are uncertain; they are possibly from frete or from fret (“to chafe, rub”).
Etymology 4
From Latin fretum (“channel, strait”). Doublet of fretum.
Etymology 5
From Old French frete, fraite, fraicte, possibly partly confused with fret (“channel, strait”).
Etymology 6
Attested since the mid-1800s, of unknown origin. Perhaps related to fret (“to form a pattern upon”), fret (“to consume”) (as the fog does the land), or fret (“to agitate the surface of water”) (as the wind which blows the fog inland does); compare the semantics of haar (“cold wind; misty wind; fog, mist”). Dialectally, the spelling freet and pronunciation /fɹit/ are also found, as they also are for fret (“consume; agitate”).