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# frayed

adjective (frayed); verb (past of «fray»: fray, frays, frayed, fraying)

«frayed» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Frayed cloth or rope has loose threads at the edge because it is old or worn. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#m1)
2. Frayed nerves or tempers are worn out, so people get upset easily. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#m2)

### In the lessons

In everyday life jeans, shoelaces, ropes and old cables become frayed. In safety lessons, a frayed electric cable is dangerous — it can give a shock or start a fire — so tell an adult and stop using it; a frayed climbing rope must be replaced. In stories «tempers frayed» means people became cross and impatient. Phrases: «frayed edges», «frayed rope», «frayed nerves», «tempers frayed».

### Examples

- My jeans are frayed at the bottom. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x1)
- Don't use that frayed cable — it's dangerous. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x2)
- The old rope was badly frayed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x3)
- Her shoelace was frayed and finally snapped. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x4)
- After hours of waiting, tempers frayed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x5)
- The flag had frayed in the wind. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x6)
- The blanket's edges were frayed. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x7)
- Frayed wires can start a fire. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x8)
- The shirt-collar was rather frayed out at the edge, so the scissors came to cut off the threads. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/#x9)

### Note

Base verb «fray» (frayed, fraying). Trap: «frayed» sounds like «afraid» without the a, but means worn, not scared. A «fray» (noun) can also mean a fight: «join the fray».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «frayed» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/frayed/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«frayed» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/frayed.html) on Mova free.