Word.ws English Dictionary

frame

/ˈfɹeɪ̯m/

frame verb: to fit, as for a specific end or purpose; make suitable or comfortable; adapt; adjust. Also the clipping of page frame or memory frame.

frame: to fit, as for a specific end or purpose; make suitable or comfortable; adapt; adjust
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Verb

frame (third-person singular simple present frames, present participle framing, simple past and past participle framed)

  1. (transitive) To fit, as for a specific end or purpose; make suitable or comfortable; adapt; adjust.
    • I will hereafter frame myself to be coy.1578, John Lyly, Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit
    • frame my face to all occasionsc. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  2. (transitive) To construct by fitting together or uniting various parts; fabricate by union of constituent parts.
    • Nature that fram’d vs of foure Elements,
      Warring within our breaſts for regiment,
      Doth teach vs all to haue aſpyring minds:c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  3. (transitive) To bring or put into form or order; adjust the parts or elements of; compose; contrive; plan; devise.
    • He began to frame the loveliest countenance he could.a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...
    • How many excellent reasonings are framed in the mind of a man of wisdom and study in a length of years.1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […], →OCLC
  4. (transitive) To put together the structural elements of (a constructed object such as a building).
    • Once we finish framing the house, we'll hang tin on the roof.
  5. (transitive) To place (a picture such as a painting or photograph) inside a decorative border.
  6. (transitive) To position visually within a fixed boundary.
    • The director frames the fishing scene very well.
    • Round glasses would frame your face perfectly.
  7. (transitive) To construct in words so as to establish a context for understanding or interpretation.
    • How would you frame your accomplishments?
    • The way the opposition has framed the argument makes it hard for us to win.
  8. (transitive) Conspire to falsely incriminate an innocent person.
    • The gun had obviously been placed in her car in an effort to frame her.
  9. (dialectal, intransitive) To wash ore with the aid of a frame.
  10. (dialectal, intransitive) To move.
    • An oath, and a threat to set Throttler on me if I did not "frame off" rewarded my perseverance.1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 309
  11. (intransitive, obsolete) To proceed; to go.
    • The beautie of this ſinfull Dame, / Made many Princes thither frame, / To ſeeke her as a bedfellow, / In maryage pleaſures, playfellow:c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry...
  12. To hit (the ball) with the frame of the racquet rather than the strings (normally a mishit).
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  1. (obsolete, transitive) To strengthen; refresh; support.
    • At last with creeping crooked pace forth came / An old old man, with beard as white as snow, / That on a staffe his feeble steps did frame1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 30
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To execute; perform.
    • All have sworn him an oath that they should frame his will on earth.
    • The silken tackle / Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands / That yarely frame the office.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To cause; to bring about; to produce.
    • Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To profit; avail.
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To fit; accord.
    • When thou hast turned them all ways, and done thy best to hew them and to make them frame, thou must be fain to cast them out.1531, William Tyndale, An Answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To succeed in doing or trying to do something; manage.

Noun

frame (plural frames)

  1. The structural elements of a building or other constructed object.
    • Now that the frame is complete, we can start on the walls.
  2. Anything composed of parts fitted and united together; a fabric; a structure.
    • The chiefeſt God firſt moouer of that Spheare,
      Enchac’d with thouſands euer ſhining lamps,
      Will ſooner burne the glorious frame of Heauen,
      Then ſhould it ſo conſpire my ouerthrow.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
    • These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, / Almighty! thine this universal frame.1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  3. A human body or the structure thereof; the size, shape, sturdiness etc. of a person's body as described in a certain way; one's build.
    • His starved flesh hung loosely on his once imposing frame.
    • There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met / To view the last of me, a living frame / For one more picture! […]1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXXIV
    Synonyms:
    carriage
  4. A rigid, generally rectangular mounting for paper, canvas or other flexible material.
    • He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
    • The painting was housed in a beautifully carved frame.
  5. A piece of photographic film containing an image.
    • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
      If the audience had a nickel for every time a character on one side of the frame says something could never happen as it simultaneously happens on the other side of the frame, they’d have enough to pay the surcharge for the movie’s badly...
    • A film projector shows many frames in a single second.
  6. A context for understanding or interpretation.
    • In this frame, it's easy to ask the question that the investigators missed.
    • Interests groups compete to have their preferred frames shape policy discussions.2020 May, Kelcie Ralph, Ian Girardeau, “Distracted by “distracted pedestrians”?”, in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, volume 5
  7. (crime) A conspiracy to falsely incriminate an innocent person.
    • Didn't you ever wonder this whole thing may be a frame?1980, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo, spoken by Julian Kaye (Richard Gere)
  8. A complete game of snooker, from break-off until all the balls (or as many as necessary to win) have been potted.
  9. An independent chunk of data sent over a network.
  10. A set of balls whose results are added together for scoring purposes. Usually two balls, but only one ball in the case of a strike, and three balls in the case of a strike or a spare in the last frame of a game.
  11. The complete set of pins to be knocked down in their starting configuration.
    • In knockemdowns and bowls ten pins are used, the centre one being called the king, and the ball has to be grounded before it reaches the frame.1878, John Henry Walsh, British Rural Sports, page 712
  12. A movable structure used for the cultivation or the sheltering of plants.
    • a forcing-frame; a cucumber frame
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  1. The outer decorated portion of a stamp's image, often repeated on several issues although the inner picture may change.
  2. The outer circle of a cancellation mark.
  3. (animation) A division of time on a multimedia timeline, such as 1/30 or 1/60 of a second.
  4. (Internet) An individually scrollable rectangular region of a web page, forming part of a frameset.
  5. (slang) An inning.
  6. (UK, dated) Any of certain machines built upon or within framework.
    • a stocking frame; a lace frame; a spinning frame
  7. (dated) Frame of mind; disposition.
    • to be always in a happy frame
    • And I partook of the infinite calm in which she lay: my mind was never in a holier frame than while I gazed on that untroubled image of Divine rest.1847, Emily Brontë, chapter XVI, in Wuthering Heights
  8. (obsolete) Contrivance; the act of devising or scheming.
    • John the bastard / Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  9. (dated) A stage or location in a video game.
    • When you play the game it will draw a set pattern depending on the frame you are on, with random additions to the pattern, to give a different orchard each time.1982, Gilsoft International, Mongoose (video game instructions) [ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-info/m/Mongoose.txt]
    • Hunchback looks very good, bright, cheerful and with a loud tune. I think it could have had a bit more sound during the frame though.1984, "Hunchback" (video game review) in Crash (issue 2, pages 73-74)
  10. ("reading frame") A way of dividing nucleotide sequences into a set of consecutive triplets.
  11. A form of knowledge representation in artificial intelligence.
  12. A complete lattice in which meets distribute over arbitrary joins.
  13. The carcass of a poultry bird with most of its flesh removed, used for making broth.
    • a chicken frame

Proper noun capitalized: Frame

Frame

  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States.

Also used as

frame is also the clipping of page frame or memory frame.

frame meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

frame in Hindi

structure of a person's body
ढाँचा ḍhā̃cā, कलबूत kalbūt, कलेवर kalevar, पंजर pañjar, अंजर-पंजर añjar-pañjar

frame in Marathi

फ्रेम करण्यासाठी, चौकट करण्यासाठी

frame in Urdu

فریم کرنا

frame in Bengali

ফ্রেম করতে, ফ্রেম করা
More languagesFewer languages
frame in Telugu
చట్రం, ఫ్రేమ్ చేయడానికి, ఫ్రేమ్ చెయ్యడానికి
frame in Malayalam
ഫ്രെയിം, ഫ്രെയിം ചെയ്യാൻ, ഫ്രെയിം ചെയ്യാനായി
frame in Kannada
ಚೌಕಟ್ಟು, ಫ್ರೇಮ್ ಮಾಡಲು, ಚೌಕಟ್ಟು ಮಾಡಲು
frame in Punjabi
ਫਰੇਮ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
frame in Gujarati
ફ્રેમ કરવા માટે
frame in Odia
ଫ୍ରେମ୍ କରିବାକୁ, ଫ୍ରେମ କରିବା ପାଇଁ, ଫ୍ରେମ କରିବାକୁ
frame in Nepali
फ्रेम गर्न
frame in Tagalog
bastagan
frame in Arabic
أَطَّرَ ʔaṭṭara, وَرَّطَ warraṭa, لَقْطَة laqṭa
frame in Persian
پاپوش درست کردن pâpuš dorost kardan, پاپوش دوختن pâpuš duxtan
frame in Thai
กรอบ grɔ̀ɔp
frame in Vietnamese
vu oan, vu hãm, khung

Examples of frame in a sentence

  • They have framed this sentencing bill as not caring about victims; we have to frame it as preventing government overreach.
  • We may in some measure frame our minds for the reception of happiness.1828, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations, Lord Brooke and Sir Philip Sidney:
  • The human mind is framed to be influenced.1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
  • As for America’s constitution, speaking as the court’s originalist-in-chief, all that mattered was what its words meant when it was framed.2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always right”, in The Economist:
  • In the dining room, Savonarola chairs frame a burlwood table, while in the primary bedroom, flea-market art mingles with a Chinese Art Deco rug.2026 May, Ingrid Abramovitch, “Big Easy Does It”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 22:

All 40 example sentences with frame

Synonyms of frame

All synonyms of frame

Forms of frame

Verb
third-person singular presentframes
present participleframing
past participleframed
pastframed
Noun
pluralframes

Past tense of frame: framed

Plural of frame: frames

Origin of frame

From Middle English framen, fremen, fremmen (“to construct, build, strengthen, refresh, perform, execute, profit, avail”), from Old English framian, fremian, fremman (“to profit, avail, advance”), from Proto-West Germanic *frammjan, from Proto-Germanic *framjaną (“to further, promote, perform”), from Proto-Indo-European *promo- (“front, forward”). Cognate with Low German framen (“to commit, effect”), Danish fremme (“to promote, further, perform”), Swedish främja (“to promote, encourage, foster”), Icelandic fremja (“to commit”). More at from.

From Middle English frame (“profit, benefit, advantage; a structure composed according to a plan”), from the verb (above) and also from Old Norse frami (“advantage, fame, bravery, efficiency, privilege, honor”); and frame (“a framework or structure of any kind”) which is of uncertain origin. The latter is usually regarded as a derivative of former; however, compare the rare Anglo-Norman and Old French frame, fraine (“frame, framework”), itself of uncertain origin, which might be a borrowing from the English, from the Norse, or even possibly ultimately from Frankish *hramu (“frame”) related to Dutch raam (“window frame”).

Words formed from frame

Phrases with frame

80 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with frame

37 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about frame

What does frame mean?
Frame means to fit, as for a specific end or purpose; make suitable or comfortable; adapt; adjust.
What is frame in Hindi?
Frame in Hindi is ढाँचा (ḍhā̃cā), कलबूत (kalbūt), कलेवर (kalevar). See Frame meaning in Hindi.
How do you use frame in a sentence?
They have framed this sentencing bill as not caring about victims; we have to frame it as preventing government overreach.
What part of speech is frame?
Frame can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce frame?
Frame is pronounced /ˈfɹeɪ̯m/.
What is the past tense of frame?
The past tense of frame is framed.

Words near frame in the dictionary

  1. framboid
  2. framboidal
  3. framboids
  4. framboise
  5. framboises
  6. frame
  7. frame and panel
  8. frame ball
  9. frame balls
  10. frame bridge
  11. frame bridges

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: frame (page history and authors); Frame (page history and authors); frame (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); frame (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-frame.wav.

Cite this entry: “frame.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/frame. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.