fretful

adjective

fret·​ful ˈfret-fəl How to pronounce fretful (audio)
: disposed to fret : irritable, restless
fretfully adverb
fretfulness noun

Examples of fretful in a Sentence

He fell into a fretful sleep.
Recent Examples on the Web As the fretful Moon in your money zone provokes repressive Saturn in your 5th House of Fun, you may be concerned that this effort gets in the way of your ability to enjoy yourself. Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 4 Feb. 2024 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 Within hours of the attacks, fretful voices worried about making a civilizational clash a self-fulfilling reality. Jordan Michael Smith, The New Republic, 19 Oct. 2023 To be robust but sour, like an alarm clock, is to make a fretful noise. The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2023 Some economists in Denmark worry that the country could become too dependent on Novo Nordisk, with fretful comparisons to the fate of the Finnish economy when Nokia lost its dominance in the cellphone industry. Eshe Nelson, New York Times, 29 Aug. 2023 The Mitnick Affair drove a fretful international conversation not just about hacking, but also about the internet itself. Alex Traub, New York Times, 20 July 2023 But even without a song to call their own, Milky and Kanagawa have elevated what was once a mere prop in a storybook musical into a three-hanky barnstormer of a character — the cow that rueful Jack of Beanstalk fame (Cole Thompson) is ordered to sell by his eternally fretful mother (Aymee Garcia). Peter Marks, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2022 Its annual settings are attended with a kind of fretful enthusiasm — a bit like Groundhog Day, if Punxsutawney Phil was the herald of nuclear winter, with no spring ever to come again. Stephen C. George, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fretful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fretful was in 1594

Dictionary Entries Near fretful

Cite this Entry

“Fretful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fretful. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

fretful

adjective
fret·​ful ˈfret-fəl How to pronounce fretful (audio)
1
: inclined to worry
a fretful child
2
: not relaxing or restful
a fretful sleep
fretfully adverb
fretfulness noun
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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