How do you use the word "fray" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "fray": All this bickering is starting to fray my nerves.

Fray Meaning

/fɹeɪ/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

verbTo 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., Of a deer: to rub (its antlers or head) against a tree, etc., to remove the velvet from antlers or to mark territory; also, to rub its antlers against (a tree, etc.) for that purpose.

Sentence Examples

All this bickering is starting to fray my nerves.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

rub scratch disturbance

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

After years of use, the carpet's edges began to ____ and look worn.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

After years of constant use, the edges of the old carpet began to ____ and look very worn.

Word Origin & History

The verb is derived from Late Middle English fraien (“to beat so as to cause bruising, to bruise; to crush; to rub; to wear, wear off”), borrowed from Old French fraier, freier, freiier (modern French frayer (“to clear, open up (a path, etc.); (figuratively) to find one’s way through (something); (obsolete) to rub”)), from Latin fricāre, the present active infinitive of fricō (“to chafe; to rub”), an intensive form of friō (“to break into pieces, crumble; to rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”). Sense 1.2 (“to force or make (a path, way, etc.) through”) is derived from modern French frayer: see above. The noun is derived from the verb.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"S. Paul alſo defineth the law to be the knowlege of ſyn, yͭ is, which accuſeth, frayeth the cõſcience, & maketh ſynnes knowen." — 1538, Erasmus Sarcerius, “Of the Lawe of God”, in Richard Taverner, transl., Cõmon Places of Scripture Ordrely and after a Cõpendious Forme of Teachyng, Set Forth with No Litle Labour, […], London: […] John Byddell, […], →OCLC, folio lxv, recto:

"[W]ith the help of her consorts, [she] carried off the following goods of her said lady; viz. […] four striped muslin night-rails very little frayed; […]" — 1710 November 12 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele], “Wednesday, November 2, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 245; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC, page 309:

"Everything told of long use and quiet slow decay; the very bell-rope in the porch was frayed into a fringe, and hoary with old age." — 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Seventeenth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC, page 182:

"It was a little past mid-day when the four-horse stage-coach by which I was a passenger, got into the ravel of traffic frayed out about the Cross-Keys, Wood-street, Cheapside, London." — 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter I, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 1:

"[T]his ſame Ladie Dryopee, the fayreſt Ladye tho / In all the land of Oechalye. Whom beeing then no mayd / (For why the God of Delos and of Delphos had her frayd) / Andræmon taketh too hys wyfe, and thinkes him well apayd." — 1567, Ovid, “The Ninth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 115, verso:

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