as in irritable
tending towards or characterized by agitation or irritability
They finally lulled the fretful baby to sleep. I kept having fretful thoughts about what would happen if we couldn't pay our bills.
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Recent Examples of fretful
Investors are fretful heading into the August payrolls report.
—
Sarah Min, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2025
Despite the fretful retreat staged by most House Democrats, preliminary polling shows significant public support for Trump’s impeachment.
—Chris Lehmann, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Performance Jones prods the start button and the four-cylinder power plant coughs grumpily into life, then settles to a fretful idle.
—Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 28 May 2025
Suddenly the Toronto crowd’s sound turned from festive to fretful.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 6 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for fretful
Sarah Min, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2025
Despite the fretful retreat staged by most House Democrats, preliminary polling shows significant public support for Trump’s impeachment.
—Chris Lehmann, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Performance Jones prods the start button and the four-cylinder power plant coughs grumpily into life, then settles to a fretful idle.
—Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 28 May 2025
Suddenly the Toronto crowd’s sound turned from festive to fretful.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 6 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for fretful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fretful
Adjective
-
What are the symptoms of irritable bowel disease?—
Lindy Segal,
PEOPLE,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Perhaps through feeling more irritable, more anxious, or wanting to isolate.—
Joy Harden Bradford,
AJC.com,
2 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The play is about Sarah, an anxious young woman living a double life.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
-
That’s the blunt reality facing Senate Majority Leader John Thune as Republicans grow increasingly anxious about the end-game for one of the most consequential — and politically combustible — confirmation fights in recent memory.—
Phil Mattingly,
CNN Money,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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But, in the end, the artists – who’d been out there alone, navigating the same troubled waters – understood the potential.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2026
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Four people were wounded early Sunday in a shooting at a troubled Queens nightclub with a history of violence and murder.—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
So how worried should these teams be?—
Shayna Goldman,
New York Times,
30 Apr. 2026
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People that maybe have a more precarious position in the industry and are worried and see AI as a threat — which is absolutely valid — and younger people, younger actors and musicians.—
Andy Greene,
Rolling Stone,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine, derived from a clothing dye called methylene blue, was first tested on agitated and delusional patients in 1952.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
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Trump has long agitated for changes at CNN, and few expect his Justice Department to block the transaction.—
Meg James,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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In the draft room, Bisciotti looked nervous as the pick approached, worried another team — or even his own GM — might snag Randall.—
Michael Silver,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Some nervous Democrats and their allies worry that language could thwart installation of a Democratic majority in the next Congress.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
There are even Allure editors who remain apprehensive.—
Tori Crowther,
Allure,
22 Apr. 2026
-
Pressley, a co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, has for months been making the case to Republicans and some apprehensive Democrats to get them on board, according to a senior aide to the congresswoman.—
Caitlin Yilek,
CBS News,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The childishness of his expressions infantilized a genuinely vicious regime, painting it as more peevish than petrifying.—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
9 Apr. 2026
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While grunge seemed peevish, grim, defeatist, and dour—and extended the kind of us-vs.-them culture most famously centered by the indie rock of the ’80s and ’90s, Oasis was celebratory, communal, and democratic while exploring themes of alienation, escape, and fantasies of triumph.—
Corey Seymour,
Vogue,
28 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fretful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fretful. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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