filigree
Americannoun
-
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
verb (used with object)
-
filigrees,
present (3rd person singular)
-
filigreed,
past participle, past
-
filigreeing
present participle
noun
-
delicate ornamental work of twisted gold, silver, or other wire
-
any fanciful delicate ornamentation
adjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
filigreesimple
-
filigreessimple
-
have filigreedperfect
-
has filigreedperfect
-
am filigreeingprogressive
-
are filigreeingprogressive
-
is filigreeingprogressive
-
have been filigreeingperfect progressive
-
has been filigreeingperfect progressive
Past
-
filigreedsimple
-
had filigreedperfect
-
was filigreeingprogressive
-
were filigreeingprogressive
-
had been filigreeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of filigree
First recorded in 1685–95; earlier filigreen, variant of filigrain
Explanation
Ancient handmade jewelry is often known for its filigree, which is a noun describing delicate ornamental work made of some type of metal. Filigree comes from the Latin word for thread. Usually the strands of silver, gold, or wire used for this type of ornamentation is so fine, it appears almost like thin threads wound together. It wouldn’t be a bad find to stumble on a chest full of gold filigree-framed items in your grandmother’s attic, especially if she wanted you to keep them! The word can also be used as a verb to describe the act of making filigree.
Vocabulary lists containing filigree
Beowulf
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This Week In Words: April 26–May 2, 2020
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The Night Circus
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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:
The first weeks of his second term, he put another piece of gold filigree above the door, and then it was between the paintings.
From Slate ● May 7, 2026
Inside a converted chocolate factory outside of Milan, a master goldsmith sat at a workstation, shaping a strip of metal into filigree so fine it resembled lace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Your eye is drawn to the dazzling, filigree lace around the neck of the young woman.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2023
If, as the New York Times’ Amanda Hess argues, we live in the “golden age of celebrity branding,” liquor is the filigree on its balustrades, the inlay on its armoires, the leaf on its chandeliers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2023
Conceivably two expanding civilizations with different planetary requirements would ignore each other, their filigree patterns of expansion intertwining, but not conflicting.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Now they have added new filigrees to their careers: Short and Martin both received Emmy nominations for their lead acting roles in the Hulu comedy “Only Murders in the Building.”
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
Erhard Rom’s sets, too, strike a fine balance between caricatured opulence and comic minimalism — he projects elegant filigrees to fill parlor walls, streaks of marble to conjure a garden.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2022
Country filigrees are sometimes heard, but the music is mostly pop, with touches of soul and a bit of tango, plus a whole lot of disco.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2019
Her impassioned filigrees invited empathic responses from the choir, and found stalwart support from the event’s MC, the Rev James Cleveland.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 8, 2019
Lichens splotch the stone; leached minerals have left filigrees of stains.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
An obvious model for the film is “Babe,” but minus the droll wit, the inspired lunacy and the filigreed plot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Williams first thought he might not have the energy or time to compose two hours of the kind of elaborate, filigreed orchestral music that is his provenance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
After flowering, the plants set an equally abundant crop of ballooning seedpods topped with a filigreed crown.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 12, 2022
Instead it feels theoretical, a filigreed representation of the classic trolley problem.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2022
Hundreds of people sat in red velvet seats and in gold filigreed balconies.
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
