frolic
Americannoun
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merry play; merriment; gaiety; fun.
-
a merrymaking or party.
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playful behavior or action; prank.
verb (used without object)
adjective
noun
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a light-hearted entertainment or occasion
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light-hearted activity; gaiety; merriment
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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frolicsimple
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frolicssimple
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have frolickedperfect
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has frolickedperfect
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am frolickingprogressive
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are frolickingprogressive
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is frolickingprogressive
-
have been frolickingperfect progressive
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has been frolickingperfect progressive
Past
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frolickedsimple
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had frolickedperfect
-
was frolickingprogressive
-
were frolickingprogressive
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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
Party Parlance for Mardi Gras
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"Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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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:
Once completed, the $5 million acquisition will ensure the theater has a permanent home, a place where skateboarding clowns and leek-haired onions can continue to frolic and dance for decades to come.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
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
With this multitude of bright blossoms and fragrant flowers surrounding me, I can almost forget my drippy sinuses and frolic in appreciation of the season.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2024
COLIC: colicky frolic: frolicked, frolicker, frolicking GARLIC: garlicky mimic: mimicked, mimicking panic: panicked, panicking, panicky picnic: picnicked, picnicker, picnicking POLITICS: politicker, politicking traffic: trafficked, trafficker, trafficking playwright.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Yuletide frolics are a key part of that strategy.
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2025
When it’s not locked, her son frolics in the playground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2020
But even that isn’t all fun and underwater frolics.
From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 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
“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
Two more blue whales frolicked in the distance, keeping out of their way.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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
Used primarily as an office building, its ornate design, carvings and sculptures — including a ground floor fountain with frolicking bronze youths — hadn’t invited much public attention or appreciation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026
The frolicking angels populate concentric bands of other clouds that extend upward.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Oregon officials have pushed back forcefully, flooding their own social media with images of colorful cafe tables, sun-drenched farmers markets, rose gardens in full bloom and parks bursting with children, families and frolicking dogs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2025
While everyone spent the day frolicking in the sand and water, I stayed in the hotel room so I could soak in the silence.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
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.
