Word: fret
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Everyone tells the models they're gorgeous, but as long as they work they must guard against imperfection -- the bloodshot eye, the puffy face. They diet rigorously, and smoke to keep the weight off. Even on good days, models fret that they are not perfect enough. "A girl comes to a shoot with a pimple, and everyone's mumbling about her," says Kevyn Aucoin, a New York makeup artist. "She feels like she should commit suicide...
...Lower Basin with a gimlet eye. The upper states have never used all the water allotted to them; the surplus could be, and often was, picked up by the lower states -- mostly California. No one minded as long as the river seemed inexhaustible; now the upper states fret that the lower states have grown accustomed to -- and have prospered on -- more than their fair share. Across the region and within each state, powerful interests have staked out claims to the river's overallocated waters...
Moderates fret that Fahd will once again back down rather than confront the conservatives. "He will never fight them," says a Saudi intellectual. But failure to institute reforms now will only serve to encourage the extremists. Fahd's father, King Abdul Aziz, founder of the kingdom, did not hesitate to sever his alliance with the puritanical Wahhabi warriors when they defied his rule. As the struggle over Saudi Arabia's future intensifies, Fahd could do worse than recall his father's choice when challenged by his kingdom's zealots...
...truly maddening. Of course, you have to feel a bit sorry for the Quadlings who do not have time to go to their own houses for lunch--but you don't have to be nice to them. Hissing at strangers is well within house protocol. But don't fret, if Barbara is checking IDs, she will wave you past the trespassers--because we live there...
...many modern Chinese who fret about political malaise and economic stagnation, Mao symbolizes the promise of the '50s, when the leadership appeared to be incorruptible and struggle -- political and otherwise -- seemed to have a purpose. The new Mao cult has even imbued the Chairman with talismanic powers. In Guangdong province, truck drivers and shop owners display Mao posters, believing the image will ward off ill fortune and bring profits to their businesses -- an ironic twist for an anticapitalist who imposed radical egalitarianism on China...