FRETFUL Synonyms: 210 Similar and Opposite Words

fretful

adjective

Definition of fretful

as in irritable

tending towards or characterized by agitation or irritability They finally lulled the fretful baby to sleep. I kept having fretful thoughts about what would happen if we couldn't pay our bills.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of fretful The quintessential late-’80s teen, Ryder here plays a fretful mom. — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 27 Nov. 2025 But that doesn’t mean viewers won’t be increasingly exasperated by the ways the screenplay forces Knightley’s character into a clumsy, fretful investigation. — The New York Times, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025 Investors are fretful heading into the August payrolls report. — Sarah Min, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2025 Suddenly the Toronto crowd’s sound turned from festive to fretful. — Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 6 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for fretful

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fretful

Adjective

And this new Godzilla, entirely computer-generated, is an irritable muscle of spikes and scales, or like a sort of angry gothic pineapple.

— Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 5 Nov. 2026
Murray says her own experience has made her more understanding when female colleagues seem more tired or irritable than usual, particularly when the behavior is out of character.

— Jo Ann Liguori, Flow Space, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of irritable

Adjective

Everyone’s inner monologue is narrated by no less than author Zadie Smith, whose voice-over’s cool assurance forms a productive contrast with the characters’ anxious scrambling.

— Alison Herman, Variety, 6 Nov. 2026
Even so, a person calling about an arrest or a custody dispute is just as likely to be anxious, and a voice that sounds human but is not can feel like deception, whatever the law requires.

— Hamid Kohan, Forbes.com, 6 Nov. 2026

Definition of anxious

Adjective

Signs so far show Singles’ Day, China ’s biggest online shopping festival, is failing to entice worried consumers into splashing out more, even when they are offered bargains.

— ABC News, ABC News, 10 Nov. 2026
Additionally, The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the PMA is worried that if the watchmen went on strike, that other ILWU dockworkers would walk off the job in solidarity.

— Glenn Taylor, Footwear News, 10 Nov. 2026

Definition of worried

Adjective

It was meant to give kids from troubled homes an opportunity to learn the skills and discipline of a sport.

— CBS News, CBS News, 12 Nov. 2026
The health system, while under Sarian’s leadership, bought the hospitals from troubled Steward Healthcare System in 2024 as part of a deal Steward made to thin debt.

— Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 11 Nov. 2026

Definition of troubled

Adjective

Following the restless night, the animals’ sleep windows lengthened while their total REM-like time jumped from roughly nine minutes to seventeen.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Nov. 2026
Netflix’s org chart might be in crisis, and its subscribers are growing increasingly restless about the awful cadence of content worth caring about.

— David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of restless

Adjective

The Lilliputians are as small-minded as their size and conduct querulous, violent debates about which end of an egg to crack (so obviously similar to the theological complexities of Swift’s own day).

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2026
The American right, too, is in a shifting, querulous state.

— Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2026