- 1[intransitive, transitive] if cloth frays or something frays it, the threads in it start to come apart The cuffs of his shirt were fraying. This material frays easily. fray something It was fashionable to fray the bottoms of your jeans.
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- 2[intransitive, transitive] fray (something) if someone's nerves or temper frays or something frays them, the person starts to get irritated or annoyed As the debate went on, tempers began to fray.
fray
verbNAmE//freɪ//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they fray he / she / it frays
past simple frayed
-ing form fraying
adjective frayed denim shorts Tempers were getting very frayed.Idioms
to start to come apart or to fail Support for the governor was fraying around the edges.See fray in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Check pronunciation: fray