Even when they stayed together, relations frayed under the pressures of starvation.

While top management and the public were consumed by the Firestone dispute, relations were fraying with dealers, suppliers, white-collar workers and the union.

Those relations have slowly frayed.

Mr. Jackson's relations with Sony have frayed since the release of his most recent album, "Invincible," which has had disappointing sales.

After the failed Mordent incident, the already-tense relation between Azalin and Strahd frayed further.

In 1968, relations frayed with the CIA when Posada was questioned about his "unreported association with gangster elements".

You remember conversations with his parents over the years, on the telephone or outside arenas, as his injuries multiplied and his relations frayed with management and teammates.

But in what could be a sign that their relations are fraying, the Governor did not call the Mayor to tell him that he planned to sign the bill.

His common-law wife Mona did make the journey to Scotland, indicating that relations have indeed perhaps not frayed irrevocably despite suggestions of pending legal action.

America's relations with some of its most important European allies have frayed significantly in the past five years, primarily over the decision to go to war in Iraq.