fret
/fret/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb:
- To worry or be anxious: To feel or express distress, irritation, or agitation, often about something.
- To wear away or erode: To gradually damage or destroy something by rubbing, gnawing, or chemical action.
- To be agitated or irritated: To be in a state of constant, nagging annoyance or disturbance.
- To decorate with a repeated pattern: To ornament with a design of interlaced lines.
Noun:
- A state of worry or irritation: A feeling of agitation or anxious distress.
- A worn or eroded spot: An area where material has been gradually worn away.
- A ridge on a stringed instrument: One of the raised lines on the neck of a guitar, lute, etc., against which the strings are pressed to change the pitch.
- An ornamental pattern: A decorative design of repeated straight lines that intersect, often at right angles.
Usage Examples
- Verb (to worry):
- Try not to fret about things you cannot change.
- She fretted over the details of the presentation all night.
- Verb (to erode):
- Acid rain can fret away the surface of the stone.
- The constant friction had fretted a groove into the wood.
- Noun (worry):
- He was in a terrible fret before his job interview.
- Noun (ridge on instrument):
- The guitarist placed his finger just behind the third fret.
- Noun (pattern):
- The antique box was adorned with an intricate fret.
Advanced Usage
- "to fret over": To worry or be anxious about a specific thing.
- Parents often fret over their children's safety.
- "to fret away": To waste or consume something, especially time or health, through worry or erosion.
- He fretted away his youth worrying about the future.
- The river had fretted away the riverbank over centuries.
Variants and Related Words
- Fretful (adj): Inclined to fret; anxious, irritable, or complaining.
- The tired child became fretful.
- Fretwork (n): Ornamental work consisting of interlacing or perforated patterns, often in wood.
- The balcony was decorated with beautiful wooden fretwork.
Synonyms
- Verb (worry): Worry, agonize, brood, anguish.
- Verb (erode): Erode, corrode, wear away, gnaw, eat away.
- Noun (worry): Agitation, anxiety, distress, stew, sweat.
- Noun (ridge): Bar, ridge.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Fret about/over: To be anxiously concerned with.
- There's no point fretting over spilled milk.
- Fret away: To waste or be consumed by worry or erosion (as shown in Advanced Usage).
Related Idioms
- Fret and fume: To be visibly and noisily agitated or angry.
- He sat in the traffic jam, fretting and fuming about being late.
Noun
- 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
- an ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief)
- there was a simple fret at the top of the walls
- a spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion
- agitation resulting from active worry
- don't get in a stew
- he's in a sweat about exams
Verb
- wear away or erode
- remove soil or rock
- Rain eroded the terraces
- cause friction
- my sweater scratches
- be too tight; rub or press
- This neckband is choking the cat
- decorate with an interlaced design
- carve a pattern into
- gnaw into; make resentful or angry
- The injustice rankled her
- his resentment festered
- cause annoyance in
- become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
- provide (a musical instrument) with frets
- fret a guitar
- be agitated or irritated
- don't fret over these small details
- worry unnecessarily or excessively
- don't fuss too much over the grandchildren--they are quite big now