1. Worry unnecessarily or excessively
   "don't fret too much over the grandchildren—they are quite big now";
   - fuss, niggle
    
2. Be agitated or irritated
   "don't fret over these small details";
   - stew [informal]
    
3. Cause annoyance in
   "The child's whining fretted his mother"
    
4. Gnaw into; make resentful or angry
   "The injustice fretted her";
   - eat into, rankle, grate
    
5. Become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
   "The tight collar fretted his neck";
   - chafe, gall
    
6. Be too tight; rub or press
   "This neckband is fretting the cat";
   - choke, gag
    
7. Cause friction
   "The rope fretted against the edge of the boat";
   - rub, fray, chafe, scratch
    
8. Remove soil or rock
   "The river had fretted away at the cliff face";
   - erode, eat away
    
9. Wear away or erode
   "The acid fretted the metal surface";
   - eat away
    
10. Provide (a musical instrument) with frets
    "fret a guitar"
     
11. Carve a pattern into
    "He fretted the guitar's fingerboard with precision"
     
12. Decorate with an interlaced design
    "The craftsman fretted the wooden panel with intricate patterns"

1. Agitation resulting from active worry
   "She was in a constant fret about her children's safety";
   - stew [informal], sweat [informal], lather, swither [UK, dialect]
    
2. A small bar of metal across the fingerboard of a musical instrument; when the string is stopped by a finger at the metal bar it will produce a note of the desired pitch
   "The guitarist's fingers moved quickly across the frets"
    
3. A spot that has been worn away by abrasion or erosion
   "The carpet showed frets where people frequently walked";
   - worn spot
    
4. An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief)
   "there was a simple fret at the top of the walls";
   - Greek fret, Greek key, key pattern
    
5. [UK] A fog or mist coming from the sea
   "The coastal town was enveloped in a thick sea fret";
   - sea fret [UK]

Derived forms: frets, fretted, fretting

Type of: adjoin, adorn, agitation, annoy, architectural ornament, bar, beautify, bother, carve, chafe [archaic], compact, compress, constrict, contact, contract, corrode, damage, dapple, decorate, devil, embellish, fancify, fleck, furnish, get at [informal], get to, grace, gravel [US], irritate, maculation, meet, nark [Brit, slang], nettle, offer, ornament, patch, press, provide, rag, render, rile, roil [N. Amer], rust, speckle, spot, squeeze, supply, sweat [N. Amer, informal], tick off [informal], touch, vex, worry

Encyclopedia: Fret