filigree

[fil-i-gree]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR filigree ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

delicate ornamental work of fine silver, gold, or other metal wires, especially lacy jewelers' work of scrolls and arabesques.

anything very delicate or fanciful: a filigree of frost.

adjective

composed of or resembling filigree.

verb (used with object), fil·i·greed, fil·i·gree·ing.

to adorn with or form into filigree.

Also filagree, fillagree.

Origin of filigree

1685–95; earlier filigreen, variant of filigrain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for filigree

lattice, interlace, ornamentation, fretwork, lacework, tracery

Examples from the Web for filigree

Historical Examples of filigree

Some of our filigree glass, it is true, became too elaborate to be beautiful.
The Story of Glass
Sara Ware Bassett
Those spindles are Persian, while the filigree is more Byzantine than anything else.
The Best Short Stories of 1917
Various
He remembered the motto curiously worked in filigree of gold.
Sir Nigel
Arthur Conan Doyle
He handed her the filigree necklace she had admired so much.
The Secret of Casa Grande
Helen Randolph
While she was still admiring it, Peggy picked up the filigree necklace.
The Secret of Casa Grande
Helen Randolph

British Dictionary definitions for filigree

filigree

filagree or fillagree

noun

delicate ornamental work of twisted gold, silver, or other wire

any fanciful delicate ornamentation

adjective

made of or as if with filigree

verb -grees, -greeing or -greed

(tr) to decorate with or as if with filigree

Derived Formsfiligreed, adjective

Word Origin for filigree

C17: from earlier filigreen, from French filigrane, from Latin fīlum thread + grānum grain

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for filigree

1690s, shortening of filigreen (1660s), from French filigrane "filigree" (17c.), from Italian filigrana, from Latin filum "thread" (see file (v.)) + granum "grain" (see corn (n.1)). Related: Filigreed.