Dictionary

fretfully en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ˈfɹɛt.fə.li/

Etymology

Etymology tree English fretful Middle English -ly English -ly English fretfully From fretful + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a fretful manner.
   • “I am not going to run away, Papa,” said Kitty, fretfully; “if I should ever go to Brighton, I would behave better than Lydia.” “You go to Brighton!—I would not trust you so near it as East Bourne, for fifty pounds![…]” 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter VI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 124:
   • Thus civilian morale became a key issue in war preparations, which were undertaken in a spirit so fretfully suspicious that centralised mass shelters were not constructed for fear of encouraging a deep shelter mentality that would turn London's population into a race of modern Morlocks. 2004, Laura Marcus, Peter Nicholls, The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century English Literature, page 437:
   • […] rain squalled fretfully against the schoolhouse roof. Although it had stopped by the time the afternoon recess was due, Miss Willie decided that it was too cold and raw for the children to be out a full half hour, so she sent them[…] 1994 September 1, Janice Holt Giles, Miss Willie, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 165:

Forms