frisk
Americanverb (used without object)
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frisks,
present (3rd person singular)
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frisked,
past participle, past
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frisking
present participle
verb (used with object)
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frisks,
present (3rd person singular)
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frisked,
past participle, past
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frisking
present participle
noun
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a leap, skip, or caper.
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a frolic or gambol.
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the act of frisking a person.
verb
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(intr) to leap, move about, or act in a playful manner; frolic
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(tr) (esp of animals) to whisk or wave briskly
the dog frisked its tail
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(tr)
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to search (someone) by feeling for concealed weapons, etc
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to rob by searching in this way
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noun
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a playful antic or movement; frolic
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the act or an instance of frisking a person
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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frisksimple
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friskssimple
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have friskedperfect
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has friskedperfect
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am friskingprogressive
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are friskingprogressive
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is friskingprogressive
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have been friskingperfect progressive
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has been friskingperfect progressive
Past
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friskedsimple
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had friskedperfect
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was friskingprogressive
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were friskingprogressive
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had been friskingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of frisk
1425–75; late Middle English, as adj. < Middle French frisque, perhaps a spelling variant (with mute s ) of fri ( c ) que lively, smart < Germanic (compare Middle Dutch vrec, Old High German freh avaricious, Middle High German vrech brave, German frech insolent); or < Middle French (Flanders) frisque < Middle Dutch frisc fresh
Explanation
To frisk someone is to search them, usually for weapons. It’s typical for a crime show to portray a police officer frisking a suspect. The purpose of frisking is to find out if someone is carrying a particular kind of item. The person doing the frisking may be looking for weapons or a recording device. Another meaning of frisk is more light-hearted: “to play in an enthusiastic manner.” Kids running around a playground are frisking. If you say there’s frisking going on in a nearby park, you might want to clarify which meaning you’re indicating.
Vocabulary lists containing frisk
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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:
He began his career as a lawyer before being elected to the New York state legislature, where he championed affordable housing and worked on policing issues, notably the controversial practice known as "stop and frisk."
From Reuters ● Nov. 18, 2022
In an essay describing why he became a police officer, Rivera recalled the injustice of being pulled over in a taxi and seeing officers frisk his brother.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 26, 2022
If we have a law that prohibits police officers from asking a child to lift their shirt or to consent to a frisk, that might be one less child in the system.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2021
Last week, Philadelphia Phillies Manager Joe Girardi asked umpires to frisk Max Scherzer for foreign substances in the middle of an inning.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2021
He had given Frankie a visual frisk as he came in and he knew there wasn’t 75 cents on him.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Team members, wearing modified uniforms and driving unmarked cars, conduct stops, frisks and searches in their assigned neighborhoods.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
Stop and frisks wouldn’t end, but Newark would have to fight crime without the rampant police stops the department had used for years.
From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2021
The landmark case found that the Fourth Amendment is not violated when a police officer stops a suspect on the street and frisks them without probable cause.
From Fox News ● Feb. 11, 2020
Even with recorded stops receding, however, broad swaths of officers are yet unable to articulate a rationale for the ones they carry out, or for the frisks that often follow, Mr. Zimroth’s report said.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2016
During the exit frisks, we’d find waffles stuffed inside pants and shirts.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Police stopped, questioned and frisked those suspected of carrying weapons or casing a business, dissuading the ill-intentioned from packing guns while reducing shootings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
The BBC had seen about 50 police officers around on Sunday morning local time and cars were turned away at entry points, while those entering on foot were frisked by police checking bags.
From BBC ● Jan. 10, 2023
In Albany, he teamed up with Eric Adams, the future mayor of New York City, to ban the Police Department from maintaining a database of men its officers had stopped and frisked.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
The tense atmosphere was evident at Lula’s rally in Nova Iguaçu, where spectators were frisked for weapons and Lula’s chest bulged with a bulletproof vest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2022
He frisked him to make sure he was unarmed and, like a schoolmaster taking a disobedient student by the collar, marched him away from the barn.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Nearly 39,000 frisking staff had been employed across the country to check for any prohibited items, the NTA said, and there would be 40-50 security personnel stationed at every exam centre.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
The match has been designated a "high-risk" clash, with police enforcing special rules such as preventative frisking.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2025
There was beautifully mellow playing in the winds throughout the “Jardin du Sommeil d’Amour,” the longest section, with the piano gently frisking, like a dancer in the moonlight on a foggy summer night.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2023
The TV audience’s response to the bit — which carried on into frisking presenters Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa per the Academy’s “protocol” — was mixed on Twitter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2022
“You look glad all over, Baron. I hope all that frisking means joy,” I said.
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
