Synonyms for fretful
ˈfrɛt fəlfret·ful

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fretful

   Balky, mulish, obstinate, and stubborn are synonyms of restive only in an infrequent if not obsolete use; the supposed sense of "tending to rest," "standing stubbornly still," is scarcely supported by any examples, and those cited to support that meaning often fail to do so. The disposition to offer active resistance to control by any means whatever is what is commonly indicated by restive in the best English speech and literature. Dryden speaks of "the pampered colt" as "restiff to the rein;" but the rein is not used to propel a horse forward, but to hold him in, and it is against this that he is "restiff." A horse may be made restless by flies or by martial music, but with no refractoriness; the restive animal impatiently resists or struggles to break from control, as by bolting, flinging his rider, or otherwise. With this the metaphorical use of the word agrees, which is always in the sense of such terms as impatient, intractable, rebellious, and the like; a people restive under despotism are not disposed to "rest" under it, but to resist it and fling it off.

   Synonyms:
   balky, fidgety, fractious, frisky, impatient, intractable, mulish, mutinous, obstinate, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, resentful, restiff, restive, restless, skittish, stubborn, unruly, vicious

   Antonyms:
   docile, gentle, manageable, obedient, passive, peaceable, quiet, submissive, tractable, yielding

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fretful

   Synonyms:
   irritable, fractious, peevish, impatient, petulant, waspish

   Antonyms:
   patient, forbearing, contented, meek, resigned, unmurmuring

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. antsy, fidgety, fretful, itchyadjective

   nervous and unable to relax

   "a constant fretful stamping of hooves"; "a restless child"

   Synonyms:
   whiny, querulous, itchy, fidgety, antsy, whiney

   Antonyms:
   relaxed, uncomplaining

2. fretful, querulous, whiney, whinyadjective

   habitually complaining

   "a whiny child"

   Synonyms:
   whiny, itchy, fidgety, antsy, querulous, whiney

   Antonyms:
   relaxed, uncomplaining

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fretfuladjective

   Synonyms:
   peevish, petulant, touchy, testy, snappish, waspish, pettish, splenetic, spleeny, captious, irritable, ill-humored

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. fretfuladjective

   Synonyms:
   irritable, petulant, querulous, peevish, captious, spleeny

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