noun
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decorative geometrical carving or openwork
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any similar pattern of light and dark
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ornamental work of three-dimensional frets
Etymology
Origin of fretwork
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Moving on to the guest room, Bauer points to a Fretwork wood wall panel above the daybed.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 20, 2025
MacMillan — like Byrd, a committed Catholic — recently wrote “Ye Sacred Muses” for the King’s Singers and Fretwork, the viol consort.
From New York Times • Jul. 4, 2023
Most of the pieces sung by Davies were arranged for viol consort by Richard Boothby, co-founder of Fretwork and one of its bass viol players.
From Washington Post • Oct. 17, 2019
Groups constituted like Fretwork, a quintet that plays viols of different sizes and ranges, were more to his taste.
From New York Times • Feb. 11, 2012
Fretwork is chiefly used to adorn the tombs of chiefs.
From The Pagan Tribes of Borneo by Haddon, Alfred C. (Alfred Cort)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
