frolic
Americannoun
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frolics
plural
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merry play; merriment; gaiety; fun.
-
a merrymaking or party.
-
playful behavior or action; prank.
verb (used without object)
-
frolics,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frolicked,
past participle, past
-
frolicking
present participle
adjective
noun
-
a light-hearted entertainment or occasion
-
light-hearted activity; gaiety; merriment
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
frolicsimple
-
frolicssimple
-
have frolickedperfect
-
has frolickedperfect
-
am frolickingprogressive
-
are frolickingprogressive
-
is frolickingprogressive
-
have been frolickingperfect progressive
-
has been frolickingperfect progressive
Past
-
frolickedsimple
-
had frolickedperfect
-
was frolickingprogressive
-
were frolickingprogressive
-
had been frolickingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of frolic
1530–40; < Dutch vrolijk joyful (cognate with German fröhlich ), equivalent to vro glad + -lijk -ly
Explanation
A frolic is a light-hearted, fun, often silly activity. To frolic is to cavort, romp, or run around — to have fun. Ever see two puppies playing in the park, wrestling, chasing, and just having a ball with each other? You could say they're having a frolic or frolicking. When we frolic, we're having a fun time. Flying a kite, playing frisbee, skipping around, and having a picnic could be examples of frolics. If things are grim and serious, or you're in a bad mood, then it's tough to frolic. This is one of the happiest, most playful words in the dictionary.
Vocabulary lists containing frolic
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"Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It may also continue to haunt us forever after, as in the bone-clanking, teeth-chattering, spookily percussive 1929 animated Disney cartoon frolic, “The Skeleton Dance.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
It’s a rare chance for the kids in this neighbourhood to play outside together, in a space big enough to frolic and safe from traffic.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Once completed, the $5 million acquisition will ensure the theater has a permanent home, a place where skateboarding clowns and leek-haired onions can continue to frolic and dance for decades to come.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
There, the boys frolic and dream amid cinder block walls.
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2024
COLIC: colicky frolic: frolicked, frolicker, frolicking GARLIC: garlicky mimic: mimicked, mimicking panic: panicked, panicking, panicky picnic: picnicked, picnicker, picnicking POLITICS: politicker, politicking traffic: trafficked, trafficker, trafficking playwright.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Most of the country frolics into fall with hot spiced drinks and cute chunky sweaters, but in L.A., we’re forced to cosplay the season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2024
And so, against a backdrop of feline frolics, she let us into the album's deepest secrets.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2021
But even that isn’t all fun and underwater frolics.
From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 2020
In it, a mermaid looks at the Atlantic through a telescope as a seal frolics near her fin.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2019
“I don’t mean to act any more after this time. I’m getting too old for such things,” observed Meg, who was as much a child as ever about ‘dressing-up’ frolics.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
"It's getting beyond a joke for a small country town," Peter Hainsworth, 81, told AFP as tourists frolicked on the rolling hills nearby.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
The border collie, who’s been enlisted to shoot daily videos for French TV, frolicked up and down the carpet ahead of the opening ceremony.
From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2024
These huge, nearly grown cats frolicked, racing beside our ATV as we drove the fence line and sparring on their hind legs—behavior I’d seen only in wild tigers.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 2, 2023
Gaetz frolicked in the pungent aroma of his own stench like a dog admiring its flatulence.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2023
They frolicked in a melancholy way, half giddy with freedom and travel, half fearful and lonely and worried, and irritated too, having gotten along in China, but as the simplest of friends.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Oh those frolicking bots tripping through the local playground.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
We would be sipping ice-cold spritzes at cafés overlooking the Mediterranean, frolicking down cobblestone streets lined with charming boutiques, and marveling at the frescoes and marble sculptures adorning grand cathedrals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Some videos show puppies frolicking or close-ups of squirrels, others stream loops of squishy toys enjoyed by other animals or humans.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
When she was ruling Egypt and frolicking with Mark Antony, the Sphinx had already been buried up to its neck in sand for thousands of years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025
The bigger, stronger cub was not frolicking with a tender, laughing female two-legs, being fed tidbits of meat in a pleasant sunlit open place.
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
