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.
The piece takes inspiration from Chinese fretwork patterns, Art Noveau designs and German sculptor Hugo Leven’s iconic pewter bat candelabras.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026
US guitarist Carol Kaye, whose fretwork can be heard on classic tracks like You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling and the theme to Mission: Impossible, receives the same honour.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2025
Mr. Walker’s driving, multilayered fretwork helped propel the dark though often danceable sound of a band that helped pioneer industrial music by blending heavy metal intensity, new wave hooks and a punk taste for provocation.
From New York Times ● Dec. 3, 2023
Its fretwork of thin glass tubes was bent and shaped to resemble an old-fashioned bellows camera.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2023
Gogol is accustomed to the scenery, yet he still stares, at the short, dark men pulling rickshaws and the crumbling buildings side by side with fretwork balconies, hammers and sickles painted on their facades.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
