frill

/fɹɪl/

frill noun: a strip of pleated fabric or paper used as decoration or trim.

Image: Sevilla Congress & Convention Bureau, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

frill (plural frills)

A strip of pleated fabric or paper used as decoration or trim.
- […] one of her husband Jeffery’s shirts (with frills to the bosom) […]1777, Samuel Jackson Pratt (as Courtney Melmoth), Liberal Opinions, upon Animals, Man, and Providence, London: G. Robinson and J. Bew, Volume 5, Chapter 114, p. 163
- His face had fallen in, and was unshorn; his frill and neckcloth hung limp under his bagging waistcoat.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “In which Captain Dobbin Acts as the Messenger of Hymen”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 172
Synonyms:

flounce, furbelow, ruffle
(figuratively) A substance or material on the edge of something, resembling such a strip of fabric.
- Nothing moved in sky, land, or sea, except a frill of milkwhite foam along the nearer angles of the shore, shreds of which licked the contiguous stones like tongues.1874, Thomas Hardy, “Adventures by the Shore”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 206
- She had noticed yesterday that a few tiny corkscrew tendrils had come right through some cracks in the scullery ceiling and all the windows of the lean-to had a thick frill of ruffled green.1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, chapter 6, pages 25–26
A wrinkled edge to a film.
(figuratively) Something extraneous or not essential; something purely for show or effect; a luxury.
- My name is Sammy Carleton. Not ‘Mr.’ Carleton, but just plain Sammy. I’m a regular no-nonsense man with no fancy frills about me. I want you to call me Sammy.1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “A Matter of Æsthetics”, in The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book 3, page 381
- Every possible economy was carefully investigated and unnecessary expense, however small, eliminated. The company had no money to spare on "frills."1956 September, 'Precursor', “The Dursley & Midland Junction Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 599
The relatively extensive margin seen on the back of the heads of reptiles, with either a bony support or a cartilaginous one.
- A large admiral lizard leapt up on a rail, stood on hind legs with fore legs raised like hands and watched for a moment […], then loped down the cess-path with arms swinging and iridescent frill flying out like a cape […]1943, Xavier Herbert, chapter 14, in Capricornia, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton-Century, page 227
- She reminded Bojan of a desert lizard throwing up its frill to frighten predators.1997, Richard Flanagan, chapter 54, in The Sound of One Hand Clapping, New York: Grove Press
Synonyms:

neck frill
Synonym of armilla.

Synonyms:

armilla

Verb (1)

frill (third-person singular simple present frills, present participle frilling, simple past and past participle frilled)

(transitive) To make into a frill.
(intransitive) To become wrinkled.
(transitive) To provide or decorate with a frill or frills; to turn back in crimped plaits.
- And I will be bold to ſay my two girls have had a pretty good education, and capacity, [...] they underſtand their needle, breadſtitch, croſs and change, and all manner of plain-work; they can pink, point, and frill; [...]1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “The Family Still Resolve to Hold Up Their Heads”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume I, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 107
- Mrs. Sandham, formerly Kate Barford, is working at a baby’s frock, and asking now and then the advice of her sister, who is frilling a little cap.1863, Charles Dickens, Mrs. Lirriper’s Lodgings, Chapter 4, in All the Year Round, Volume 10, Extra Christmas Number, 3 December, 1863, p. 35

Verb (2)

frill (third-person singular simple present frills, present participle frilling, simple past and past participle frilled)

(intransitive, obsolete) To shake or shiver as with cold (with reference to a hawk).
(intransitive, obsolete) To cry (with reference to a bird of prey).
- The Eagle Frilleth, or Scriketh
  The Hawk, as Falcon, Gawshawk, and all such Birds of Prey, cryeth, peepeth, or frilleth.1688, Randle Holme, The Academy of Armory, Chester: for the author, Book 2, Chapter 13, “Of the Voices of Birds,” p. 310

frill meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

frill in Tamil

கொசுவம்

frill in Urdu

جھالر, سنجاف

frill in Malayalam

ruff, ruffle, flounce: ഞൊറി, ഞെറി, ഞൊറിവ്, ഞാലി, തുഞ്ചം, ചുരുൾ
decoration, ostentation, ornamentation: മേനി, പ്രൗഢിചിഹ്നം, ആർഭാടം, ആഡംബരം, ആടോപം, അലങ്കരിക്കൽ

frill in Kannada

ಬಟ್ಟೆಯ ನಿರಿಗೆ, ಅಂಚು, ನಿರಿ, ಗತ್ತು, ಠೀವಿ, ವೈಯ್ಯಾರ

Examples of frill in a sentence

[T]he bright frills of the winter fungi on the blotched trunks of the trees;1979, Angela Carter, “The Company of Wolves”, in The Bloody Chamber, Penguin, published 1993:
‘Isn’t it a shame!’ Mrs Ayres said softly, now and then pausing to brush aside a frill of snow and examine the plant beneath […]2009, Sarah Waters, chapter 12, in The Little Stranger, London: Virago:
As if it was trivial for us, a frill, a whim.1985, Margaret Atwood, “Jezebel’s”, in The Handmaid’s Tale, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →ISBN, part 12, page 237:

All 22 example sentences with frill

Synonyms of frill

All synonyms of frill

Forms of frill

Noun
plural	frills
Verb
third-person singular present	frills
present participle	frilling
past participle	frilled
past	frilled

Origin of frill

Of uncertain origin.

From Old French friller.

Words formed from frill

Phrases with frill

frill sharks

Words that rhyme with frill

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about frill

What does frill mean?: Frill means a strip of pleated fabric or paper used as decoration or trim.
What is frill in Tamil?: Frill in Tamil is கொசுவம். See Frill meaning in Tamil.
How do you use frill in a sentence?: [T]he bright frills of the winter fungi on the blotched trunks of the trees;
What part of speech is frill?: Frill can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce frill?: Frill is pronounced /fɹɪl/ (UK).
What is the plural of frill?: The plural of frill is frills.

Words near frill in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: frill (page history and authors); frill (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); frill (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); frill (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); frill (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-frill.wav.

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