frolic
Americannoun
-
frolics
plural
-
merry play; merriment; gaiety; fun.
-
a merrymaking or party.
-
playful behavior or action; prank.
verb (used without object)
-
frolics,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frolicked,
past participle, past
-
frolicking
present participle
adjective
noun
-
a light-hearted entertainment or occasion
-
light-hearted activity; gaiety; merriment
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
frolicsimple
-
frolicssimple
-
have frolickedperfect
-
has frolickedperfect
-
am frolickingprogressive
-
are frolickingprogressive
-
is frolickingprogressive
-
have been frolickingperfect progressive
-
has been frolickingperfect progressive
Past
-
frolickedsimple
-
had frolickedperfect
-
was frolickingprogressive
-
were frolickingprogressive
-
had been frolickingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of frolic
1530–40; < Dutch vrolijk joyful (cognate with German fröhlich ), equivalent to vro glad + -lijk -ly
Explanation
A frolic is a light-hearted, fun, often silly activity. To frolic is to cavort, romp, or run around — to have fun. Ever see two puppies playing in the park, wrestling, chasing, and just having a ball with each other? You could say they're having a frolic or frolicking. When we frolic, we're having a fun time. Flying a kite, playing frisbee, skipping around, and having a picnic could be examples of frolics. If things are grim and serious, or you're in a bad mood, then it's tough to frolic. This is one of the happiest, most playful words in the dictionary.
Vocabulary lists containing frolic
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"Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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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:
It’s a rare chance for the kids in this neighbourhood to play outside together, in a space big enough to frolic and safe from traffic.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Traipsing through genres and time periods, these excursions are an opportunity for Bi and his creative team to frolic in various cinematic sandboxes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2025
This was not the barefoot frolic I knew from picnics, not the game of lazy parabolas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
There, the boys frolic and dream amid cinder block walls.
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2024
First he had written Miss Lavinia—Johnny knew he was dancing attendance on her—a rude note bluntly declining her invitation to a frolic which on the fifteenth of December would follow a military concert.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
"A lot's happened since Alfie's been away from the Square but wherever his floral shirts go you can expect fun, frolics and, of course, the odd porky-pie," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2022
When it’s not locked, her son frolics in the playground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2020
In it, a mermaid looks at the Atlantic through a telescope as a seal frolics near her fin.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2019
And thus do the fashion week frolics — or follies, depending on your point of view — begin: in the wake of the U.S.
From New York Times ● Sep. 5, 2018
“I don’t mean to act any more after this time. I’m getting too old for such things,” observed Meg, who was as much a child as ever about ‘dressing-up’ frolics.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
"It's getting beyond a joke for a small country town," Peter Hainsworth, 81, told AFP as tourists frolicked on the rolling hills nearby.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
The border collie, who’s been enlisted to shoot daily videos for French TV, frolicked up and down the carpet ahead of the opening ceremony.
From Seattle Times ● May 14, 2024
These huge, nearly grown cats frolicked, racing beside our ATV as we drove the fence line and sparring on their hind legs—behavior I’d seen only in wild tigers.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 2, 2023
Gaetz frolicked in the pungent aroma of his own stench like a dog admiring its flatulence.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2023
So he sat in his father’s study as the sea breeze frolicked somewhere else, and as Lizzie Bright was probably flying with the Tripps, and read propositions.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
We would be sipping ice-cold spritzes at cafés overlooking the Mediterranean, frolicking down cobblestone streets lined with charming boutiques, and marveling at the frescoes and marble sculptures adorning grand cathedrals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Some videos show puppies frolicking or close-ups of squirrels, others stream loops of squishy toys enjoyed by other animals or humans.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
There are light, fond echoes of François Truffaut’s frolicking ode to cinematic fakery “Day for Night” and Ingmar Bergman’s bumpy ride on memory road “Wild Strawberries.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
Before that he was a young boy, born on Halloween, frolicking among unmarked headstones as the son of funerary masons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
He was not on horseback, he had not expected trouble, in the middle of a husking bee, an occasion for frolicking and fun.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
