to fret

Examples

• All

• "This most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire.

  Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)

• Above them, the fan creaked on its axis, wood fretting against wood.

  Fiction book (1993)

• The peels on the ground are long as lanyards, fretted with brown.

  Fiction book (1997)

• Joan, her hair fretted with twigs, climbs up over the edge of the hill.

  Fiction book (1992)

• Some nights the streets were fretted with dust carried clear from the Mojave; on others, they shone wet from the spray of garden hoses, slick and glassy.

  Fiction book (2000)

• The constant rubbing of the sandpaper began to fret the surface of the wood.

• As she polished the metal, her cloth fretted the tarnished areas until they shone.

• The rocks by the shore were fretted smooth by the relentless waves over time.

Synonyms

S

to scrape

vsto fret

62 1.2

To rub material off a surface with something hard or sharp

covers similar rubbing wear but not necessarily caused by sharp contact

E

to eat away

vsto fret

17 4.1

Slowly damages metal, rock and someone's confidence by chemicals or steady pressure

is specific to rubbing or friction as the wearing action rather than chemicals

G

to grate

vsto fret

8 4.3

Make a harsh scraping sound by rubbing things together

is concerned with physical rubbing that erodes or irritates without sound focus

C

to chafe

vsto fret

5 5.6

To make skin sore by rubbing

is broader, applying to both surface erosion and simple irritation

R

to rub off

vsto fret

5 3.4

Come off a surface when something moves against it

focuses more on the process of rubbing that erodes or irritates surfaces

A

to abrade

vsto fret

5 8.1

The surface wears away when something rubs or scrapes it

is similar but also stresses surface irritation as well as erosion

G

to grind down

vsto fret

2 6.1

Wear a surface away slowly by rubbing, or make someone very tired

emphasizes erosion or irritation from rubbing rather than intentional smoothing

G

to gall

vsto fret

1 8.1

To make a body part sore by rubbing

is more general, applying to surfaces as well as bodily irritation

A

to abrase

vsto fret

• Archaic

9.9

Wear away the surface of something by rubbing or scraping

is the everyday sense that includes both rubbing erosion and irritation

A

to attrit

vsto fret

9.9

To wear away a surface slowly by rubbing

is like this but can also mean simply to irritate a surface

A

to attrite

vsto fret

9.6

To wear a surface down by rubbing

focuses more generally on rubbing that both erodes and irritates

F

to frazzle

vsto fret

7.5

To rub something so it becomes damaged at the edges

is similar but may be used for milder surface irritation as well

R

to rub down

vsto fret

4.4

To make a surface smooth by moving something over it

is similar but can mean natural wear or irritation, not only smoothing

Antonyms

R

repair

352 2.3

Work done to fix something that is broken

S

smooth

1 5.8

An act of making a surface even by rubbing or pressing

Idioms

F

to fret the gizzard

• Informal

9.9

To worry too much about things you cannot control

Compounds

G

Greek fret

8.4

A repeating design of vertical and horizontal lines that people use to decorate buildings and objects

How Abrasive

to erode

24 4.2

to abrade

5 8.1

to fret

1 6.7

to chafe

5 5.6

to scratch

161 1.1

to scuff

12 3.6

Surface Forms

Etymology