frazzle
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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to wear to threads or shreds; fray.
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to weary; tire out.
Those six eight-year-olds frazzled me.
noun
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the state of being frazzled or worn-out.
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a remnant; shred.
verb
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informal to make or become exhausted or weary; tire out
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a less common word for fray 2
noun
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informal the state of being frazzled or exhausted
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a frayed end or remnant
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informal absolutely; completely (esp in the phrase burnt to a frazzle )
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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frazzlesimple
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frazzlessimple
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have frazzledperfect
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has frazzledperfect
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am frazzlingprogressive
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are frazzlingprogressive
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is frazzlingprogressive
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have been frazzlingperfect progressive
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has been frazzlingperfect progressive
Past
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frazzledsimple
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had frazzledperfect
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was frazzlingprogressive
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were frazzlingprogressive
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had been frazzlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of frazzle
1815–25; blend of fray 2 and fazzle, Middle English faselin to unravel, cognate with German faseln
Explanation
To frazzle is to tire or wear someone out. Traffic jams and looming deadlines tend to frazzle people. Frazzle is a funny-looking word, but it means something not-so-funny: being exhausted, physically or mentally. Parents are frazzled by their children crying and running around. A difficult job like serving as a police officer is extremely frazzling. Doing anything that takes a mental, emotional, or physical toll is frazzling. When someone feels tired, they will often say "I'm frazzled!"
Vocabulary lists containing frazzle
Don't Panic! Synonyms for "Stress"
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The Unteachables
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The Benefits of Being an Octopus
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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.
See Examples For:
It was also apparent in a humbling Australian Open quarter-final defeat by 37-year-old Novak Djokovic, who injured his hamstring but managed to frazzle Alcaraz through his wily know-how.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2025
“Campaigns are exhausting. They frazzle your soul. … It’s like trying to ride a bicycle in an earthquake,” Galston says.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 10, 2019
The battle here is playing out on a grand stage, amid 20 million people and 5 million vehicles, in traffic that can frazzle even the calmest nerves.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 7, 2015
Going long not only has the potential to wear readers out, but it can also frazzle publishers.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2014
There was a car ready to leave, and I found a seat next the window and it started and I watched it sort of frazzle out into slack tide flats, and then trees.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
“There’s a script for ‘Barefoot in the Park’ that’s so fragile that I’m afraid to even touch it because the paper is so old that it sort of frazzles away,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2022
Constantly hovering over your children, while simultaneously trying to have a fight on Twitter and find a food recycling bag, frazzles everyone.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 14, 2018
Many return to a single topic: technology-driven modernity and how it frazzles the contemplative mind.
From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2015
It is a lot of typical evenings in New York rolled into one, shaped by Broadway's Neil Simon into a frantic, funny tale that frazzles the nerve ends.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sometimes they found three or four in a day, but the creatures always swam faster than their pursuers and were still frisky when the boys were worn to frazzles.
From Dick in the Everglades by Dimock, A. W.
A treasured franchise had frazzled into a bitter mood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
If you’ve had a nightmare of a journey, don’t arrive frazzled and in a bad temper.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 17, 2026
“Combining travel on the busiest days of the year with big group events can make you frazzled or anxious,” said Manhattan psychotherapist Justena Kavanagh.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
He added that DiCaprio "astounds – frazzled and absurd yet also sweet and even noble, he evokes Jack Nicholson in his prime".
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2025
She is thrilled at how romantically frazzled this situation makes me.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
Complaints about a lack of available interpreters are common in the downtown courthouse, sometimes delaying cases for people in custody and frazzling interpreters asked to cover more hearings than they can handle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
Washington’s front four also played a role in frazzling Rodgers and making him look more like a rookie than a 38-year-old four-time MVP.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 23, 2022
This spring, the trio led by singer/guitarist Nicolle Swims dropped its wiry debut EP, marked by Swims’ frazzling, spiky guitar work and wry vocal delivery.
From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2019
It wasn't fast and frazzling, it was slow and soothing.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2014
As to frazzling, seems like we only frazzle just so far, then a stitch holds and we get our breath.”
From At the Crossroads by Comstock, Harriet T. (Harriet Theresa)
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.
