Nathaniel HawthorneHugh Gallagher
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Frolic is a word rooted in pleasure. Its most common function today is as a verb meaning “to play and run about happily,” as in “children frolicking in the waves,” but it joined the language in the 16th century as an adjective carrying the meaning of its Dutch source vroolijk: “full of fun; merry.” Shakespeare’s Puck used it this way in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, saying “And we fairies … following darkness like a dream, now are frolic.” Verb use quickly followed, and by the early 17th century the word was also being used as a noun, as in “an evening of fun and frolic.”
Synonyms
Adjective
- bouncy
- bubbly
- buoyant
- crank [chiefly dialect]
- effervescent
- exuberant
- frolicsome
- gamesome
- gay
- high-spirited
- vivacious
Verb
Noun
Examples of frolic in a Sentence
Sarah Shemkus, BostonGlobe.com, 21 June 2023
Sixteen cute canines are in full frolic mode, acting silly in the snow.
—Christina Barron, Washington Post, 14 Nov. 2022
His family, including daughter Stella, barely 10 then, frolic by the pool playing ping-pong, lark around on the balcony that overhangs it and sit on the top of a cliff amid a lush onetime plantation.
—Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 1 Oct. 2022
David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Nov. 2023
Or see a suite of 24 large-scale photographs of the seashore, made from existing publicity photographs of Marilyn Monroe frolicking at the beach.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2023
Turner, 27, and Dillane, 32, were also photographed frolicking in the ocean and smiling from ear to ear while filming the beachy scene in Spain.
—Dory Jackson, Peoplemag, 15 Sep. 2023
Hilton was part of the Vegas crew that Spears frolicked with before she got spontaneously married for 55 hours to her childhood friend, Jason Alexander.
—TIME, 20 Oct. 2023
Children Wading depicts two young girls, Mary Watt and Lorna Galloway, frolicking in the surf in the Scottish town of Carnoustie during the summer of 1918.
—Teresa Nowakowski, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Oct. 2023
With leggings or even a cute sundress, my look frolicking around Paris, these are the perfect retro sneakers to finish your look.
—Gabrielle Porcaro, Travel + Leisure, 1 Oct. 2023
Other neighborhood children frolic in a playground in Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, seemingly immune to the war unfolding 6.2 miles away.
—Samya Kullab, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2023
Turner's colorful attire was a costume for a beach scene with costar Frank Dillane, which pictured the two frolicking in the waves, laughing and even locking lips.
—Celeste McCauley, Peoplemag, 15 Sep. 2023
Stacy Schiff, The New York Review of Books, 22 Dec. 2022
The Caterham is a frolic for garage-aholics, but journey nightly to that edifice prepared to grapple with a dozen childproof caps.
—Larry Webster, Car and Driver, 23 Aug. 2023
This undemanding frolic only wants to restore your sense of childlike play.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 14 Aug. 2023
In a 26-second teaser trailer, Peach frolics around a version of the Mushroom Kingdom that looks like a theater production.
—Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 21 June 2023
Now the 20 woodland creatures who invaded the Nasher’s bucolic backyard, portrayed in forest-green costumes by six Pilobolus dancers and 14 from Booker T., are back to frolic amid the artwork.
—Manuel Mendoza, Dallas News, 18 May 2023
At the end of Sally Potter’s Orlando, the eponymous (sorry for the big word; maybe just switch to TikTok) centuries-old gender-shifting protagonist played by Tilda Swinton sits beneath a tree while her little daughter frolics in a field before her.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 2 May 2023
Degas, two years younger, took slightly longer to develop his grittier vision of Paris as a pleasure dome full of cafes, concert halls, racetracks and nighttime frolics.
—Tobias Grey, WSJ, 17 Mar. 2023
Pretty in Pink Dressed in a pink coat and Chanel bag, Kristin Davis frolics in fake snow on the set of And Just Like That... in New York City on March 9.
—People Staff, Peoplemag, 14 Mar. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frolic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Frolic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frolic. Accessed 2 Dec. 2023.
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More from Merriam-Webster on frolic
Nglish: Translation of frolic for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of frolic for Arabic Speakers
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