fretful

/ˈfrɛtfəl/

/ˈfrɛtfəl/

Someone who's fretful can't relax. You might be fretful — upset and fidgety — if you're waiting to hear whether or not you've been accepted into a competitive summer music program.

You may be fretful because you're worried about a friend, you're waiting for news, you're incredibly irritated with your little brother, or simply because you're an anxious and restless person. The word at the heart of fretful is fret, a verb meaning "worry" which is rooted in the Old English fretan, "to eat or devour." From this, fret grew to mean "being eaten away by worry."

Definitions of fretful

1. adjective

   nervous and unable to relax
   “a constant fretful stamping of hooves”

   synonyms: antsy, fidgety, itchy, twitchy

   tense

   in or of a state of physical or nervous tension
2. adjective

   habitually complaining
   synonyms: querulous, whiney, whiny

   complaining, complaintive

   expressing pain or dissatisfaction of resentment