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
Its wheels’ gold rims, capped with smiley faces, are emblazoned with the platitude “Where Dreams Are Made,” while the whole thing is ornamented with piped-icing filigree.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
The heart of the track is his crystalline vocal, which carries over his steady piano work, with a few splashes of filigree on the bridge.
From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
Your eye is drawn to the dazzling, filigree lace around the neck of the young woman.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2023
Some of the Indian women wore their finest saris, made with gold filigree that draped in elegant pleats over their shoulders.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
The music is lean and nimble, with improvisatory guitar filigrees, leaping and slapping bass lines, darting accordion countermelodies and huffing brass-band chords, all delivered with pinpoint syncopation.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
The delicate items include Lucrezia Beerli-Bieler’s intricately cut filigrees, Kate Norris’s collages of wallpaper motifs and Ashley Chiang’s quilled mandala.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 14, 2020
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
Balancing on his hands or torso, he frees his legs to twist into filigrees.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2017
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
It would be better to view this fine film as deceptively small, revealing its own distinctively filigreed array of the gentle and good in all that meaningful silence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2022
After flowering, the plants set an equally abundant crop of ballooning seedpods topped with a filigreed crown.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 12, 2022
But this story of yobs spitting gobs turns into a busy production that’s as bombastic and overly filigreed as a prog-rock keyboard solo.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2022
Bronze Yohn's heir, Ser Andar Royce, and his younger brother Ser Robar, their silvered steel plate filigreed in bronze with the same ancient runes that warded their father.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.
