fretful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fretful
Explanation
Someone who's fretful can't relax. You might be fretful — upset and fidgety — if you're waiting to hear whether or not you've been accepted into a competitive summer music program. You may be fretful because you're worried about a friend, you're waiting for news, you're incredibly irritated with your little brother, or simply because you're an anxious and restless person. The word at the heart of fretful is fret, a verb meaning "worry" which is rooted in the Old English fretan, "to eat or devour." From this, fret grew to mean "being eaten away by worry."
Vocabulary lists containing fretful
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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"Sorry, Wrong Number" by Lucille Fletcher
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 6
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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.
Investors are getting more fretful about whether there will be enough power demand to go around.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The outrageous antics revolving around the experiences of fretful teen prodigy Malcolm were always anchored by his family’s tight bond.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
Be fretful, be anxious, be a quivering wreck about what might be in America, but keep perspective, too.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026
As Queenie, navigating empty relationships and professional disappointments on a journey from self-sabotage to self-worth, Brown makes a whole person from a variety of attitudes — hopeful, hopeless, hungover, exuberant, fretful, thoughtful.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2024
He lay on the brass bed and went back in time over his sullen and miserable childhood and his fretful and vicious growing up.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
