filigree

noun fil·i·gree \ ˈfi-lə-ˌgrē \

|Updated on: 9 Jul 2018

Examples: filigree in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of filigree

1 : ornamental work especially of fine wire of gold, silver, or copper applied chiefly to gold and silver surfaces

a headband decorated with silver filigree

2 a : ornamental openwork of delicate or intricate design

b : a pattern or design resembling such openwork

a filigree of frost

c : ornamentation, embellishment

writings … heavy with late Victorian filigree
—Jack Beatty

See filigree defined for English-language learners

See filigree defined for kids

Examples of filigree in a Sentence

a surface decorated with filigree and pearls

Recent Examples of filigree from the Web

Tuna is opaque, with faint filigrees of ivory fat; unagi is lush and lacquered sweetly, while octopus has a sausagelike snap.

— mike sula, Chicago Reader, "Radio Anago is Brendan Sodikoff’s sushi cave under the deep dark sea . . .," 3 May 2018
My sense of his piece was of low notes and midrange sonorous chords opening up, spilling their insides like buds releasing seeds dancing into the wind, with a harmonically (in some way) filigrees in Hodges' dancing right hand.

— mark swed, latimes.com, "The voices of Angela Davis and Lech Walesa, via piano," 28 Mar. 2018
Nowadays, people can enjoy the exuberant paint schemes or the intricate filigree above the porch columns.

— steve carney, latimes.com, "Architecture Spotlight: Victorian is a stately, though needy, grande dame," 16 June 2018
Philip Chasen, an antiques dealer in East Norwich, N.Y., said that few other enthusiasts specialized as intently as Mr. Hancock, although Mr. Chasen did have one customer who sought only Tiffany desk sets enlaced in grapevine filigree.

— New York Times, "A Tiffany Collector of Things Pastel," 8 May 2018
For a venue of this size, the show itself was small scaled and modestly budgeted — barely any stage filigree, relatively simple lighting, no platforms hovering out over the crowd.

— jon caramanica, New York Times, "Review: In a Big Room, Lorde Protects the Small Moments," 5 Apr. 2018
When the main square was forcibly re-christened Adolf Hitler-Platz during the war, SS officers took over this art nouveau cafe, and its faded opulence, all red velvet and Slavic filigree, still felt haunted.

— dale hrabi, WSJ, "An Absurdly Inexpensive European Holiday: The Luxury of Krakow," 29 Mar. 2018
Other newfound TNOs move in a telltale filigree of orbital resonances, periodically perturbing one another in a web of complex patterns that hint at further interactions with some great, unseen mass.

— lee billings, Scientific American, "Looking for Planet Nine, Astronomers Gaze into the Abyss," 22 Mar. 2018
This embellished filigree, dotted with crystal lochrosen and margarita rhinestones, also adorned the neckline and hem.

— sue strachan, NOLA.com, "Krewe of Mystery's Rose Ball visits Casablanca," 25 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'filigree.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Ornamental work formerly made with grains or beads is called filigree. It comes from an Italian word made from the Latin words for thread and grain. Today filigree is usually of fine wire of gold, silver, or copper, and is used chiefly to decorate gold and silver surfaces. Filigree can also apply to any ornamental openwork of delicate or intricate design or to a pattern or design resembling such openwork.

Illustration of filigree

Origin and Etymology of filigree

modification of French filigrane, from Italian filigrana, from Latin filum + granum grain — more at corn

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1693

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Handicraft Terms

biscuit, darn, tambour, wrought

filigree

verb

Definition of filigree

filigreed; filigreeing

transitive verb

: to adorn with or as if with filigree

Recent Examples of filigree from the Web

In contrast to the historic skyscraper’s filigreed crown of flying buttresses and pinnacles, the top of the new one would consist of curving glass walls extending beyond the building’s occupied floors.

— blair kamin and ryan ori, chicagotribune.com, "Developers plan city's second-tallest skyscraper next to new Tribune Tower condos," 16 Apr. 2018
The Mulsanne is a large luxury superliner of Bentley refinement and filigree that work flawlessly as luxurious separators from the competition, mainly the Rolls-Royce Phantom and Mercedes-Maybach S600.

— mark maynard, sandiegouniontribune.com, "2017 Bentley Mulsanne: A battle hymn of tradition and stoic provenance," 11 Aug. 2017
St. Petersburg is a museum city, its gold-filigreed heart pulsing with tsarist palaces, Baroque churches, and Art Nouveau mansions.

— sophie pinkham, New Republic, "How a Russian Street Art Museum Defies Kremlin Censors," 3 July 2017