The meaning of FRAY is a usually disorderly or protracted fight, struggle, or dispute. How to use fray in a sentence.

FRAY definition: 1. to become or to cause the threads in cloth or rope to become slightly separated, forming loose…. Learn more.

FRAY definition: a fight, battle, or skirmish. See examples of fray used in a sentence.

A heated dispute or intensely competitive situation: "Minneapolis became the latest battleground in the fray over bio-engineering as hundreds of protesters took to the streets" (Todd Wilkinson).

If your nerves or your temper fray, or if something frays them, you become nervous or easily annoyed because of mental strain and anxiety. Tempers began to fray as the two teams failed to score. …

The word fray is all about friction. A frayed rope has been rubbed so much its fibers are wearing away. People experiencing friction are involved in a fray, or a noisy fight.

to (cause to) become worn into loose threads at the edge or end: [no object] Sweaters often fray at the elbows. [~ + object] All that traffic frayed the carpet.

Dec 11, 2025 · fray (plural frays) (archaic or obsolete) A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred. quotations

Tempers ... fray • We had been waiting an hour, the temperature rising, tempers fraying. • It was on the second day that tempers, already frayed, finally ripped.

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