frame

American  

[freym] / freɪm /

noun

1. a border or case for enclosing a picture, mirror, etc.

2. a rigid structure formed of relatively slender pieces, joined so as to surround sizable empty spaces or nonstructural panels, and generally used as a major support in building or engineering works, machinery, furniture, etc.

3. a body, especially a human body, with reference to its size or build; physique.

   He has a large frame.

4. a structure for admitting or enclosing something.

   a window frame.

5. (used with a plural verb) Usually frames. the framework for a pair of eyeglasses.

6. form, constitution, or structure in general; system; order.

7. Movies. one of the successive pictures on a strip of film.

8. Television. a single traversal by the electron beam of all the scanning lines on a television screen. In the U.S. this is a total of 525 lines traversed in 1/30 (0.033) second.

9. Computers. the information or image on a screen or monitor at any one time.

10. Bowling.

    1. one of the ten divisions of a game.

    2. one of the squares on the scorecard, in which the score for a given frame is recorded.

11. Pool. rack.

12. Baseball. an inning.

13. Slang. a frame-up.

14. enclosing lines, usually forming a square or rectangle, to set off printed matter in a newspaper, magazine, or the like; a box.

15. the structural unit that supports the chassis of an automobile.

16. Nautical.

    1. any of a number of transverse, riblike members for supporting and stiffening the shell of each side of a hull.

    2. any of a number of longitudinal members running between web frames to support and stiffen the shell plating of a metal hull.

17. a machine or part of a machine supported by a framework, especially as used in textile production: spinning frame.

    drawing frame;

    spinning frame.

18. Printing. the workbench of a compositor, consisting of a cabinet, cupboards, bins, and drawers, and having flat and sloping work surfaces on top.

19. Bookbinding. an ornamental border, similar to a picture frame, stamped on the front cover of some books.

20. Shipbuilding. in frame, (of a hull) with all frames erected and ready for planking or plating.

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verb (used with object)

framed, framing

1. to form or make, as by fitting and uniting parts together; construct.

2. to contrive, devise, or compose, as a plan, law, or poem.

   to frame a new constitution.

3. to conceive or imagine, as an idea.

4. Informal. to incriminate (an innocent person) through the use of false evidence, information, etc.

5. to provide with or put into a frame, as a picture.

6. to give utterance to.

   Astonished, I attempted to frame adequate words of protest.

7. to form or seem to form (speech) with the lips, as if enunciating carefully.

8. to fashion or shape.

   to frame a bust from marble.

9. to shape or adapt to a particular purpose.

   to frame a reading list for ninth graders.

10. Informal. to contrive or prearrange fraudulently or falsely, as in a scheme or contest.

11. to adjust (film) in a motion-picture projector so as to secure exact correspondence of the outlines of the frame and aperture.

12. to line up visually in a viewfinder or sight.

13. Archaic. to direct, as one's steps.

verb (used without object)

framed, framing

1. Archaic. to betake oneself; resort.

2. Archaic. to prepare, attempt, give promise, or manage to do something.

idioms

1. frame of mind. frame of mind.

frame ¹ British  

/ freɪm /

noun

1. an open structure that gives shape and support to something, such as the transverse stiffening ribs of a ship's hull or an aircraft's fuselage or the skeletal beams and uprights of a building

2. an enclosing case or border into which something is fitted

   the frame of a picture

3. the system around which something is built up

   the frame of government

4. the structure of the human body

5. a condition; state (esp in the phrase frame of mind )

6. 1. one of a series of individual exposures on a strip of film used in making motion pictures

   2. an individual exposure on a film used in still photography

   3. an individual picture in a comic strip

7. 1. a television picture scanned by one or more electron beams at a particular frequency

   2. the area of the picture so formed

8. billiards snooker

   1. the wooden triangle used to set up the balls

   2. the balls when set up

   3. US and Canadian equivalent (for senses 8a, 8b): rack.  a single game finished when all the balls have been potted

9. computing (on a website) a self-contained section that functions independently from other parts; by using frames, a website designer can make some areas of a website remain constant while others change according to the choices made by the internet user

10. short for cold frame

11. one of the sections of which a beehive is composed, esp one designed to hold a honeycomb

12. a machine or part of a machine over which yarn is stretched in the production of textiles

13. (in language teaching, etc) a syntactic construction with a gap in it, used for assigning words to syntactic classes by seeing which words may fill the gap

14. statistics an enumeration of a population for the purposes of sampling, esp as the basis of a stratified sample

15. (in telecommunications, computers, etc) one cycle of a regularly recurring number of pulses in a pulse train

16. slang another word for frame-up

17. obsolete shape; form

18. likely to be awarded or to achieve

    I'm in the frame for the top job

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verb

1. to construct by fitting parts together

2. to draw up the plans or basic details for; outline

   to frame a policy

3. to compose, contrive, or conceive

   to frame a reply

4. to provide, support, or enclose with a frame

   to frame a picture

5. to form (words) with the lips, esp silently

6. slang to conspire to incriminate (someone) on a false charge

7. slang to contrive the dishonest outcome of (a contest, match, etc); rig

8. dialect (intr)

   1. (usually imperative or dependent imperative) to make an effort

   2. to have ability

Frame ² British  

/ freɪm /

noun

1. Janet . 1924–2004, and New Zealand writer: author of the novels Owls Do Cry (1957) and Faces in the Water (1961), the collection of verse The Pocket (1967), and volumes of autobiography including An Angel at My Table (1984), which was made into a film in 1990

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Other Word Forms

• deframe verb (used with object)
• framable adjective
• framableness noun
• frameable adjective
• frameableness noun
• frameless adjective
• framer noun
• misframe verb
• reframe verb (used with object)
• subframe noun
• unframable adjective
• unframableness noun
• unframably adverb
• unframeable adjective
• unframeableness noun
• unframeably adverb
• unframed adjective
• well-framed adjective

Etymology

Origin of frame

First recorded before 1000; 1910–15 frame for def. 7; 1920–25 frame for def. 24; (verb) Middle English framen “to prepare (timber),” Old English framian “to avail, profit”; cognate with Old Norse frama “to further,” Old High German (gi)framōn “to do”; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the verb

Explanation

A frame is a basic shape or structure, especially one that outlines or surrounds a door or window. If you slam your bedroom door hard enough, the whole frame might shake. When frame is a noun, it is usually some kind of enclosure or outline that is also a physical support — like the frame around a window, a bed frame, or a picture frame. One frozen image, or still, from a movie is another kind of frame. As a verb, to frame means both to enclose something in a frame, the way you frame a painting, and to make it look like an innocent person is guilty of something.

Example Sentences

That way you know the earnings time frame the P/E is based on.

From Barron's • Apr. 16, 2026

They have to frame pitches, an increasingly critical skill.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

These carved reliefs span dimensions of the Black L.A. experience — there’s so much joy, there’s this overdue reverence too; another, fuller frame.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026

And when aggregating a value-weighted portfolio of all common stocks over this 100-year time frame and calculating their performance, only 27.60% of stocks beat the market.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026

At last she clicked her tongue and shook her head as she pushed the frame across the table.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

• concoct
• devise
• draw up
• formulate
• outline
• prepare
• shape
• sketch