- fretful
- [[t]fre̱tfʊl[/t]]
ADJ-GRADEDIf someone is fretful, they behave in a way that shows that they worried or unhappy about something.
Don't assume your baby automatically needs feeding if she's fretful.
English dictionary. 2008.
fretful
Look at other dictionaries:
Fretful — Fret ful, a. [See 2d {Fret}.] Disposed to fret; ill humored; peevish; angry; in a state of vexation; as, a fretful temper. {Fret ful*ly}, adv. {Fret ful*ness}, n. Syn: Peevish; ill humored; ill natured; irritable; waspish; captious; petulant;… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
fretful — index fractious, petulant, querulous, restive Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
fretful — 1590s, from FRET (Cf. fret) (v.) + FUL (Cf. ful). Related: Fretfully … Etymology dictionary
fretful — peevish, *irritable, petulant, querulous, fractious, snappish, waspish, pettish, huffy Analogous words: cross, cranky, touchy, choleric, *irascible: captious, carping, caviling, faultfinding, Critical: Contrary, perverse Contrasted words: patient … New Dictionary of Synonyms
fretful — [adj] irritable captious, carping*, caviling, complaining, contrary, crabby*, cranky*, critical, cross, crotchety*, edgy, faultfinding, fractious, huffy*, mean, ornery*, out of sorts*, peevish, perverse, petulant, querulous, shorttempered,… … New thesaurus
fretful — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ anxious or irritated. DERIVATIVES fretfully adverb fretfulness noun … English terms dictionary
fretful — [fret′fəl] adj. tending to fret; irritable and discontented; peevish fretfully adv. fretfulness n … English World dictionary
fretful — adjective a) irritable, bad tempered, grumpy or peevish It was another cry, but not quite like the one she had heard last night; it was only a short one, a fretful, childish whine muffled by passing through walls. b) unable to relax; fidgety or… … Wiktionary
fretful — fret|ful [ˈfretfəl] adj anxious and complaining, and unable to relax ▪ The child was tired and fretful. >fretfully adv >fretfulness n [U] … Dictionary of contemporary English
fretful — adjective anxious and complaining, especially about small or unimportant things: The child was tired and fretful. fretfully adverb fretfulness noun (U) … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
