To become anxious or irritated; to worry or be vexed, as if eaten away by canker.
Compound of 'canker' and 'fret', using metaphor to describe emotional anxiety as a kind of internal disease. A poetic coinage expressing how worry eats at someone from within.
This word captures a beautiful image: just as canker slowly eats wood, anxiety slowly eats at your peace of mind—it's why so many metaphors for emotional pain use disease or decay language.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.