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fretful

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Inclined to be vexed or troubled; peevish.
  • adjective Marked by worry and distress; troublesome.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Gnawing; wearing; abrading; corroding.
  • In a state of commotion; moved or agitated, as water; seething.
  • Disposed to fret; ill-tempered; ill-humored; peevish: as, a fretful temper.
  • Characterized by, indicating, or causing fret, worry, or ill temper.
  • Synonyms Peevish, Pettish, etc. (see petulant); irritable, complaining, querulous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Disposed to fret; ill-humored; peevish; angry; in a state of vexation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective irritable, bad-tempered, grumpy or peevish
  • adjective unable to relax; fidgety or restless

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective nervous and unable to relax
  • adjective habitually complaining

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From fret +‎ -ful.

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Examples

  • True, Custer's connection to impotence may have been largely metaphorical, but to a certain fretful portion of the populace it struck home.

    Excerpt: Charlatan by Pope Brock 2008

  • We will not say that our dear little Mary rose in this condition next morning, -- for, although she had the headache, she had one of those natures in which, somehow or other, the combative element seems to be left out, so that no one ever knew her to speak a fretful word.

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 26, December, 1859 Various

  • "Who's there!" called a fretful voice from inside.

    Gypsy Breynton Elizabeth Stuart Phelps 1877

  • This shewed a kind of fretful impatience; nor was it to be wondered at, considering our disagreeable ride.

    Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides 2006

  • But then, this might have been an ideal passion, as has happened to many of us, and we have never been less enamoured than when in the immediate presence of its object: but in this instance it was very different, creating a kind of fretful happiness quite intolerable.

    Confessions of an Etonian I. E. M.

  • This shewed a kind of fretful impatience; nor was it to be wondered at, considering our disagreeable ride.

    Life of Johnson Boswell, James, 1740-1795 1887

  • This shewed a kind of fretful impatience; nor was it to be wondered at, considering our disagreeable ride.

    The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. James Boswell 1767

  • This flicwcd a kind of fretful impatience; nor was it to be wondered at, confidcring our difagree - able ride.

    The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL. D ... 1785

  • I was only -- a kind of fretful porcupine -- standing up for my side. "

    Delia Blanchflower Humphry Ward 1885

  • But “being in a busy state” also suggested being worried or fretful.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

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