frazzle
To fray or wear down, especially at the edgesTo fray or wear down, especially at the edges.
» You seem a little frazzled.
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 senses(transitive)To fray or wear down, especially at the edges.
The new puppy has been chewing on everything, and my favorite afghan has become frazzled.
wear away by rubbing
(transitive)To drain emotionally or physically.
After dealing with the children all day, I just can’t help feeling frazzled.
exhaust physically or emotionally
Examples
7 sentencesYou seem a little frazzled.
Tom looks frazzled.
ruТом выглядит вымотанным. — odexed
My nerves were worn to a frazzle.
ruНервы у меня были совершенно растрёпаны. — Wezel
deIch war mit den Nerven am Ende. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Don't let all this commotion frazzle your nerves.
My brain is frazzled.
deMein Kopf raucht. — GaryGaryGary
Origin
Originally an East Anglian word. Either from a variant of the now obsolete fazle (“to unraOriginally an East Anglian word. Either from a variant of the now obsolete fazle (“to unravel”), altered due to influence from fray, or from a blend of fazle and fray. fazle comes from earlier fasel, which was inherited from Middle English facelyn (“[of the end of a rope, or of cloth] to unravel”). Middle English facelyn was a verbal derivative of the noun fasylle (“frayed edge”), which was in turn a derivative (with the diminutive suffix -el) of Old English fæs (“fringe, border”), from Proto-West Germanic *fas, from Proto-Germanic *fasōn.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
frazzles, frazzling, frazzled, frazzledSynonyms
1 synonyms- wear away by rubbing:fray
Word family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.