frazzle
Plural: frazzles
Noun
- a state of extreme exhaustion
- "he was worn to a frazzle"
- A burnt fragment; a cinder or crisp.
- The condition or quality of being frazzled; a frayed end.
- A messy situation or scene.
Verb
Verb Forms: frazzled, frazzling, frazzles
- To fray; to exhaust or wear out, especially nervously.
- wear away by rubbing
- exhaust physically or emotionally
- "She was frazzled after the visit of her in-laws"
- To fray or wear down, especially at the edges.
- To drain emotionally or physically.
Examples
- After dealing with the children all day, I just can’t help feeling frazzled.
- The bacon was burned to a frazzle.
- The intense Scrabble competition began to FRAZZLE her, making it harder to spot good words.
- The new puppy has been chewing on everything, and my favorite afghan has become frazzled.
Origin / Etymology
Originally an East Anglian word. Either from a variant of the now obsolete fazle (“to unravel”), altered due to influence from fray, or from a blend of fazle and fray. fazle comes from earlier fasel, which was inherited from Middle English facelyn (“[of the end of a rope, or of cloth] to unravel”). Middle English facelyn was a verbal derivative of the noun fasylle (“frayed edge”), which was in turn a derivative (with the diminutive suffix -el) of Old English fæs (“fringe, border”), from Proto-West Germanic *fas, from Proto-Germanic *fasōn.
Related to German Faser (“fibre”).
Synonyms
Scrabble Score: 28
frazzle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordfrazzle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
frazzle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary