fray
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To become unravelled or worn.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
frayIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹeɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.
transitivealso figuratively
To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to chafe.
intransitivefiguratively
Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.: to become exhausted or worn out.
intransitive
To make an assault or attack; also, to create a disturbance; to brawl, to fight.
transitiveby extension
To assail or attack (someone or something); to drive (someone or something) away by attacking.
transitive
Often followed by away, off, or out: to frighten or scare (someone or something) away.
noun
countable
A noisy commotion, especially resulting from fighting; a brawl, a fight; also, a loud quarrel.
uncountable
Conflict, disagreement.
countablefiguratively
A heated argument; a war of words.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.
Used this way, fray is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- frazzle , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fray
- “The friction frayed the sleeve.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to become unravelled or worn
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.