Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use fret in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Fret means especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat. Example: “Don't fret the surface of the lake.”

Examples of fret by meaning

verbTo make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.

  • the brooks fretting down their channels
  • Don't fret the surface of the lake.

verbTo be worn away; to chafe; to fray.

  • A wristband frets on the edges.

verbTo be anxious, to worry.

  • When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
  • Critics were vehemently outspoken; but while they fretted about looks, they missed the cleverer points in the design itself.1954 November, Frank Hewitt, “The First Decade of British 4-6-0 Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 752
  • Recruits have also fretted that the shares included in their offer letters could quickly become devalued if Mr.2022 April 25, Kate Conger, “Twitter Employees Search for Answers as Musk Deal Takes Shape”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

verbTo be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.

  • Rancour frets in the malignant breast.

nounAgitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.

  • He keeps his mind in a continual fret.

nounAn ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines, often in relief.

  • Remove spills from grill frets with a cloth and brush the frets with a stiff brush when dry and cold.1943, Homes and Gardens, volume 25, London: [s.n.], published 1944, →OCLC, page 40
  • Square unit of nondescript frets which interlace in the centre to form a cruciform shape.2007, Nancy Edwards, A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales, volume 2 (South-west Wales), Cardiff, Wales...

nounOne of the pieces of metal, plastic or wood across the neck of a guitar or other string instrument that marks where a...

  • The frets of the lute marked whole tones, while those of the guitar were a semi-tone apart.1916, “History of the Orchestra”, in Daniel Gregory Mason, editor-in-chief, Benjamin Lambord, editors, The Orchestra and Orchestral Music...

verb# To fit frets on to (a musical instrument).

  • to fret a guitar

More sentences with fret

  • Don't fret, in our division you get a lot of breathing space.From the entry breathing space
  • You're getting fret buzz because the action is too low.From the entry action
  • The dulcimer and sitar are fretted instruments.From the entry fretted
  • The violin is a stringed instrument but without frets.From the entry stringed
  • Try to remember next time, but don’t fret — I won’t jump down your throat if you forget.From the entry jump down someone's throat
  • German businesses wonder what Otto Normalverbraucher will buy, while US politicians fret over who Bubba will vote for in the next US election.From the entry bubba
  • While I fret over war play, legions of grandmothers witness invasions in real time.2022 February, Marg Heidebrecht, “Invading”, in Mosaic Through East-Facing Glass: A Collection of Personal Essays, Altona, Man.…. From the entry babusia
  • High-heeled shoes were at the point of flatlining, industry pundits fretted, teetering on the edge of extinction.2021 June 13, Ruth La Ferla, “High heels are ready to stomp out crocs”, in Philadelphia Tribune, page 3B. From the entry sutorial
  • Let them stop fretting about vegetables denied by the weather and eat chilli powder.2017 February 3, Deborah Orr, “Veg crisis, what veg crisis? If we can’t have courgettes, then let us eat kale”, in The Guardian. From the entry powder
  • On vacation, I'm a worrywart for fretting about third-degree burns and puncture wounds.2008 August 17, Nicole L.V. Mullis, “Vacation renders kids, adult males impervious to danger”, in Battle Creek Enquirer. From the entry worrywart
  • Many fretlesses, especially less expensive models that mimic a fretted counterpart, have fretted-bass nut slots.2008, Jonathan Hererra, “ASK BP”, in Chris Jisi, editor, Bass Player Presents The Fretless Bass, Milwaukee: Backbeat Books, →ISBN. From the entry fretless
  • The major pent is the same minor pent pattern only shifted down 3 frets toward the nut.2006 March 28, Greg Cisko, “Re: Any good solos?”, in alt.guitar.beginner (Usenet). From the entry pent
  • This may comprise sets of burners firing below refractory or metal frets, or surface combustion plaques.2006, Frank Saxon, editor, Tolley's Industrial and Commercial Gas Installation Practice [Gas Service Technology; 3], 4th edition, Oxford…. From the entry salamander
  • Puppet-masters were making us all jump and bray, Malik Solanka fretted.2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 8. From the entry puppet master
  • But ole Sim Salper is never a-goin' to fret hisself to a shadder about it.1966, Ambrose Bierce, The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume 8. From the entry shadder
  • Our spirits fret and chafe like sea waves on the rocks eagering to climb the shore.1913, William Alfred Quayle, The Climb to God, page 116. From the entry eager
  • While Dawson—golden, omeletless Dawson—fretted and worried, and waylaid every chance arrival for word of him.1903 March, Jack London, “The One Thousand Dozen”, in The National Magazine […], volume XVII, number 6, Boston, Mass.: W. W. Potter Co.…. From the entry waylay
  • If you're a numerophile and a pedant, then you may fret over my somewhat contemptuous handling of significant digits below.2020 March 23, Phil Plait, “Why do we have leap days?”, in SYFY WIRE, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2022. From the entry numerophile
  • And, like most boring mothers, I fret about schools.2014 December 20, Rebecca Ley, “City versus country childhoods”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media…. From the entry toddlerhood
  • Don't fret: This guide has you covered.2013 May 15, Justin Olivetti, “Neverwinter Days: The 14 guides you need to read”, in Engadget, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2021. From the entry nonagintillion
  • The congressional study frets that Huawei’s and ZTE’s products could be used as Trojan horses by Chinese spooks.2012 October 13, “Huawei and ZTE: Put on hold”, in The Economist. From the entry spook
  • A flatted fifth is a note that's a half step (or one fret) lower than the regular fifth of a scale.2011, Mark Phillips, Jon Chappell, Guitar For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 192. From the entry flatted fifth
  • He recognized, certainly, the culinarian art when at its highest, but he did not fret for the want of it.2008, Allan Mallinson, Warrior, London: Bantam Press, →ISBN, page 130. From the entry culinarian
  • If your guitar plays well on fretted strings but annoys you on the open ones, the nut's probably worn out.2007, Dan Erlewine, Guitar Player Repair Guide, →ISBN, page 220. From the entry play
  • Read's creations have covered just about all of bass-dom, from vintage-style 4-strings to 32-position fretlesses to 25-fret 8-strings tuned F♯BEADGCF.2003, Jim Roberts, American Basses, San Francisco: Backbeat Books, →ISBN, page 150. From the entry fretless
  • "You know if you fret about it, you're not going to have you a good time on my island at all.1966, John D. MacDonald, The Last One Left, Random House, published 2014, →ISBN. From the entry ladystuff
  • Charles Darwin fretted a lot about the exquisite complexity and sophistication of the vertebrate eye as he developed his theory of evolution.2026 February 23, Carl Zimmer, “The Rise of Eyes Began With Just One. Even Charles Darwin was puzzled by the evolution of the vertebrate…. From the entry cyclops
  • The company initially delayed the launch of its earlier GPT-2, with a mere 1.5bn parameters, because the company fretted over its implications.2020 August 11, “The Guardian view on artificial intelligence's revolution: learning but not as we know it”, in The Guardian. From the entry parameter

Meaning of fret

  1. verb Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.
  2. verb To chafe or irritate; to worry.
  3. verb To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.

Full definition of fret

Questions about fret in a sentence

How do you use fret in a sentence?
Fret is used as a verb and noun. For example: “Don't fret the surface of the lake.”
What is a short sentence with fret?
“to fret a guitar”
What does fret mean?
Fret means especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fret (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use fret in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/fret. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.