fretful
4
6.6
- adjective
- /ˈfrɛtfəl/
:
inquieto
- On that fretful night, the pictures flowing into her mind unbidden and dreamlike were of Inman.
We think of anxiety as the person who's worried, fretful, panicky, and tentative.
- We think of anxiety as the person who's worried, fretful, panicky, and tentative.
- The little almsman of spring Bowers, Oscar Wilde, found sweet fretful swarms of grumbling bees and Tennyson the murmuring of innumerable bees.
Examples
-
"I'm making her breakfast," the woman said, "but she's fretful."
Fiction book (1999) -
The audience, fretful and edgy from news of the war, had clearly arrived with great and urgent expectations.
Academic text (2009) -
And I felt fretful the way I did in my dreams.
Fiction book (1994) -
Now I know taking chances is, is kind of fretful, but the best things in life is on the other side of fear.
-
Over fifty people, and the only sound she heard was the fretful crying of the baby.
Fiction book (1990) -
"Where have you been?" My sister, staring at her husband, sounded fretful.
Fiction book (1999) -
"She's so fretful, I haven't had a moment to myself."
Fiction book (1993) -
Why, mention you were hungry and she'd suddenly act rushed and harassed, fretful, out of breath, distracted.
Academic text (1997) -
We think of anxiety as the person who's worried, fretful, panicky, and tentative.
-
The mother quickly picked up her fretful baby, trying to soothe its cries.
Synonyms
∞
1.3
Feeling worried and easily frightened
110
3.0
Not able to relax and stay still because of worry or boredom
25
7.0
Being nervous and unable to keep still
8
4.8
Unable to stay still because you feel nervous
Feeling worried and unable to relax about small things
Antonyms
How Fretful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Fretful comes from the older verb fret, which once meant 'to eat away', plus the ending -ful meaning 'full of'. So being fretful is like having worry that eats away at you and makes it hard to relax.