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.

You can find the professor-preacher-pundit Michael Eric Dyson fretfully watching gospel coming “out of the church, into the streets” in the New York Times in 1991, just before Franklin himself arrived at the party.

From Slate • Jun. 6, 2019

He’s also never quite sure of the effect of his words, which Dinklage artfully conveys by looking around fretfully after proposing Bran as the new king.

From The Verge • May 21, 2019

These days, slice joints—where anyone who has ever been young in New York has taken temporary refuge, seeing her future reflected in a puddle of orange grease—and cell-phone stores abut fretfully decorated cafés and boutiques.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 5, 2017

Anyone with a stake in resolving Ukraine’s political crisis — including the diplomats watching fretfully from the E.U. and U.S. — will likely have to reckon with the role of these groups.

From Time • Jan. 28, 2014

Milo was even more upset by the possibility that someone had poisoned his squadron again, and he came bustling fretfully to Yossarian for assistance.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller