The meaning of FRAY is a usually disorderly or protracted fight, struggle, or dispute. How to use fray in a sentence.

FRAY definition: 1. to become or to cause the threads in cloth or rope to become slightly separated, forming loose…. Learn more.

FRAY definition: a fight, battle, or skirmish. See examples of fray used in a sentence.

A heated dispute or intensely competitive situation: "Minneapolis became the latest battleground in the fray over bio-engineering as hundreds of protesters took to the streets" (Todd Wilkinson).

If your nerves or your temper fray, or if something frays them, you become nervous or easily annoyed because of mental strain and anxiety. Tempers began to fray as the two teams failed …

Dec 11, 2025 · fray (plural frays) (archaic or obsolete) A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred. quotations

to (cause to) become worn into loose threads at the edge or end: [no object] Sweaters often fray at the elbows. [~ + object] All that traffic frayed the carpet.