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Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

FRET

/fɹɛt/

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What does FRET mean?

verb

  1. To chafe or irritate; to worry.
  2. To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
  3. In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
More meanings (27)

verb

  1. To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
  2. To mine by agitating or eating away at (ore in the bank of a river).
  3. To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
  4. To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
  5. To be anxious, to worry.
  6. To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
  7. To have secondary fermentation (fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in beers and wine) take place.
  8. To decorate or ornament, especially with an interlaced or interwoven pattern, or (architecture) with carving or relief (raised) work.
  9. To form a pattern on; to variegate.
  10. To cut through with a fretsaw, to create fretwork.
  11. To bind, to tie, originally with a loop or ring.
  12. # To fit frets on to (a musical instrument).
  13. To press down the string behind a fret.
  14. (obsolete) Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.

noun

  1. Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
  2. Agitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
  3. Herpes; tetter (“any of various pustular skin conditions”).
  4. 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.
  5. An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines, often in relief.
  6. A saltire interlaced with a mascle.
  7. 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.
  8. A channel, a strait; a fretum.
  9. A fog or mist at sea, or coming inland from the sea.
  10. Förster resonance energy transfer
  11. 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
  12. (obsolete) A ferrule, a ring.
  13. (rare) A channel or passage created by the sea.
Wiktionary contributors Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/fɹɛt/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

“Fret not thyself, noble knight,” answered Rebecca, “the sounds have ceased of a sudden—it may be they join not battle.”
Walter ScottIvanhoe: A RomanceProject Gutenberg ebook #82
He was too glad of having the sun and the wind again, to fret because he could not run about.
George MacDonaldAt the Back of the North WindProject Gutenberg ebook #225
More book examples (3)
For a strong and impassioned soul may ‘fret the pigmy body to decay,’ and so produce convulsions and other evils.
PlatoTimaeusTranslated by Benjamin JowettProject Gutenberg ebook #1572
We shall think of them, as of players, "that strut and fret their hour upon the stage, and then are heard no more."
William GodwinThoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries Interspersed with Some Particulars Respecting the AuthorProject Gutenberg ebook #743
I always notice stage directions, because they fret me and keep me trying to get out of their way, just as the automobiles do.
Mark TwainWhat Is Man? and Other EssaysProject Gutenberg ebook #70