frolicsome

American  

[frol-ik-suhm] / ˈfrɒl ɪk səm /

adjective

1. merrily playful; full of fun.

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frolicsome British  

/ ˈfrɒlɪksəm /

adjective

1. given to frolicking; merry and playful

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Other Word Forms

• frolicsomely
  adverb
• frolicsomeness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of frolicsome

First recorded in 1690–1700; frolic + -some ¹

Explanation

Frolicsome is having a merry time of it. Picture frolicsome girls and boys playing tag, running through the meadow, laughing and rolling in the grass. Feeling gleeful and energetic as you ice skate with your friends? So spin like an Olympic skater who's going for the gold, suddenly start a race, or act like a clown, pretending to fall on the ice. You are feeling frolicsome — happy and lighthearted, laughing along with the people you are amusing. When you are frolicsome, you frolic, or act playfully to have fun.

Example Sentences

Frolicsome spring lambs amused themselves by butting each other off a low stump down in the old Gramps cow pasture.

From The Deacon of Dobbinsville A Story Based on Actual Happenings by Morrison, John Arch

Chasing your tail at a game of tag, Dancing a jig with a kitchen rag, Rearing and tearing, and all for fun, Frolicsome Don!

From Miss Elliot's Girls Stories of Beasts, Birds, and Butterflies by Corning, Mary Spring

Frolicsome caprice, and allegorical significance of composition are, poetically considered, the only essential criteria of the Old Comedy.

From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by Black, John

Fairies, fairies, come if you please, Nod your heads and ruffle your wings, Marching in order or standing at ease, Frolicsome fairies are dear little things!

From Pinafore Palace by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith

You have a tact for story-telling, for one so young; and you studied up the story of ‘The Frolicsome Duke,’ which you told the Club, in a manner that quite surprised us.

From Zigzag Journeys in Europe Vacation Rambles in Historic Lands by Butterworth, Hezekiah