fray

C2+ Topic:Clothing & Appearance

US /freɪ/ UK /freɪ/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like flay /l/ vs /ɹ/

Meanings

1

noun
a noisy quarrel or fight; to wear or unravel at the edges

He waded into the fray to separate the brawlers.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a noisy quarrel or fight;... fight brawl skirmish scuffle melee clash affray unravel

Opposites

peace truce mend

Word family

Derived forms frayedfraying

Related forms affray afraid

Etymology

In the sense 'fight, brawl', a shortening of affray (from Old French effreer, 'to disturb, frighten'); in the sense 'to wear or unravel', from Old French freier ('to rub'), from Latin fricare ('to rub').

exfridÄre Latin fricÄre Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Clothing & Appearance Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# fray

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /freɪ/
**IPA (UK):** /freɪ/

## Meanings
1. a noisy quarrel or fight; to wear or unravel at the edges

## Examples
- He waded into the fray to separate the brawlers.

## Synonyms
- fight
- brawl
- skirmish
- scuffle
- melee
- clash
- affray
- unravel

## Antonyms
- peace
- truce
- mend

## Derived Forms
- frayed
- fraying

## Related Forms
- affray
- afraid

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: exfridÄre
- Root: fricÄre

## Etymology
In the sense 'fight, brawl', a shortening of affray (from Old French effreer, 'to disturb, frighten'); in the sense 'to wear or unravel', from Old French freier ('to rub'), from Latin fricare ('to rub').

## AI Etymology
Fray has sense-specific history: in the sense 'fight, brawl', a shortening of affray (from Old French effreer, 'to disturb, frighten'); in the sense 'to wear or unravel', from Old French freier ('to rub'), from Latin fricare ('to rub'). Important recorded forms include exfridÄre (Latin) and fricÄre (Latin). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers a noisy quarrel or fight; to wear or unravel at the edges. The wider family includes derived forms such as frayed and fraying and related words such as affray and afraid.

## Topics
- Clothing & Appearance
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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