fretful

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   worried, restless, or unable to relax

   The fretful child woke repeatedly during the storm.

2. 2
   adj

   irritable and inclined to complain

   After hours in the crowded station, the passengers grew tired and fretful.

From fret + -ful. Fret in the sense 'worry or be distressed' developed from an older verb meaning 'devour or wear away,' so anxiety is pictured as something that consumes a person.

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