fretted
Americanadjective
adjective
-
ornamented with angular designs or frets
-
decorated with fretwork
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fretted
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at fret 2, -ed 2
Vocabulary lists containing fretted
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.
Markets fretted Wednesday after Alphabet raised guidance for capital spending this year by $15 billion to around $200 billion and suggested a bigger amount was on tap for next year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
"Damon's Odysseus is stubborn, overconfident and sacrilegious, but doesn't bear that much resemblance to the conniving, hypocritical egotist of lore who fretted over his wife's fidelity," she noted.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
Adam Hussein, a 35-year-old representative for Mongbwalu's traditional faith healers, fretted about Ebola denial and called on everyone to take precautions.
From Barron's ● May 24, 2026
“The ballroom is literally an imposition between two branches of our government,” the architect David Scott Parker, who’s on the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, fretted to the Times.
From Slate ● May 18, 2026
"My God, we don't have an operation here," George Kisevalter fretted, "we have a disaster in the making."
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
