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Obsess vs Fret - What's the difference?

obsess | fret |

In transitive terms the difference between obsess and fret

is that obsess is to dominate the thoughts of someone while fret is to chafe or irritate; to worry.

As verbs the difference between obsess and fret

is that obsess is to be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion while fret is to devour, consume; eat.

As a noun fret is

the agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.

As an initialism FRET is

förster resonance energy transfer.

obsess

English

Verb

(es)
  • To be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Magician’s brain , passage=The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.}}
  • (label) To dominate the thoughts of someone.
  • To think or talk obsessively about.
  • fret

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To devour, consume; eat.
  • * (rfdate)— Piers Ploughman.
  • Adam freet of that fruit, And forsook the love of our Lord.
  • * Wiseman
  • Many wheals arose, and fretted one into another with great excoriation.
  • (transitive, and, intransitive) To gnaw, consume, eat away.
  • To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
  • A wristband frets on the edges.
  • To cut through with fretsaw, create fretwork.
  • To chafe or irritate; to worry.
  • To worry or be anxious.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.}}
  • To be vexed; to be chafed or irritated; to be angry; to utter peevish expressions.
  • *
  • *:Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
  • * Dryden
  • He frets , he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground.
  • To make rough, agitate, or disturb; to cause to ripple.
  • to fret the surface of water
  • To be agitated; to be in violent commotion; to rankle.
  • Rancour frets in the malignant breast.
  • (music) To press down the string behind a fret.
  • To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify.
  • * Spenser
  • whose skirt with gold was fretted all about
  • * Shakespeare
  • Yon grey lines, / That fret the clouds, are messengers of day.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.
  • (Addison)
  • Agitation of mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.
  • He keeps his mind in a continual fret .
  • * Pope
  • Yet then did Dennis rave in furious fret .
  • Herpes; tetter.
  • (Dunglison)
  • (mining, in the plural) The worn sides of river banks, where ores, or stones containing them, accumulate by being washed down from the hills, and thus indicate to the miners the locality of the veins.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) < (etyl), from the verb (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music) One of the pieces of metal/wood/plastic across the neck of a guitar or other musical instrument that marks note positions for fingering.
  • An ornamental pattern consisting of repeated vertical and horizontal lines (often in relief).
  • * Evelyn
  • His lady's cabinet is adorned on the fret , ceiling, and chimney-piece with carving.
  • (heraldiccharge) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.
  • Derived terms
    * fretboard

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A strait; channel.
  • Etymology 4

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (dialectal, North East England) A fog or mist at sea or coming inland from the sea.
  • Anagrams

    * ----