froth
Americannoun
-
an aggregation of bubbles, as on an agitated liquid or at the mouth of a hard-driven horse; foam; spume.
-
a foam of saliva or fluid resulting from disease.
-
something unsubstantial, trivial, or evanescent.
The play was a charming bit of froth.
- Synonyms:
- nonsense, fluff, frivolity, triviality
verb (used with object)
-
froths,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frothed,
past participle, past
-
frothing
present participle
-
to cover with froth.
giant waves frothing the sand.
-
to cause to foam.
to froth egg whites with a whisk.
-
to emit like froth.
a demagogue frothing his hate.
verb (used without object)
-
froths,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frothed,
past participle, past
-
frothing
present participle
noun
-
a mass of small bubbles of air or a gas in a liquid, produced by fermentation, detergent, etc
-
a mixture of saliva and air bubbles formed at the lips in certain diseases, such as rabies
-
trivial ideas, talk, or entertainment
verb
-
to produce or cause to produce froth
-
(tr) to give out in the form of froth
-
(tr) to cover with froth
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
frothernoun
-
frothinessnoun
-
outfrothverb (used with object)
-
frothyadjective
-
unfrothedadjective
-
unfrothingadjective
-
frothilyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
frothsimple
-
frothssimple
-
have frothedperfect
-
has frothedperfect
-
am frothingprogressive
-
are frothingprogressive
-
is frothingprogressive
-
have been frothingperfect progressive
-
has been frothingperfect progressive
Past
-
frothedsimple
-
had frothedperfect
-
was frothingprogressive
-
were frothingprogressive
-
had been frothingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of froth
1350–1400; Middle English frothe < Old Norse frotha froth, scum
Explanation
Froth is the gathering of small bubbles at the top of a drink, like the fizzy froth on the top of your root beer float. There's usually froth on the surface of soda, beer, and even coffee drinks like cappuccinos and lattes, which are topped with milk froth. You can use the word froth as a verb as well, to mean "fizz or foam up." Liquid soap might froth in your hands as you wash them, for example, and making candy sometimes involves cooking sugar syrup until it starts to froth. The word most likely comes from an Old Norse root, froða, or "froth."
Vocabulary lists containing froth
An Excerpt from "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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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:
She added that this year’s outperformance for small-cap and microcap stocks “can be viewed as a sign of froth in the market.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
Overall, however, with gold down a fifth from its Jan. 28 peak, much of the deleveraging taken place and the speculative froth eliminated from positioning, Bruce is comfortable with his sizable weighting in gold.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 27, 2026
"Investors and traders are dipping their toes in the waters after the clear-out of a lot of the froth and leveraged speculative positions," said Saxo Markets' Neil Wilson.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
A key factor will be whether enough market froth has been removed—and enough speculative positions washed out—to put fundamentals back in the driver’s seat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 2, 2026
She left a riveting bitter blob of cucumber froth behind.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
You put chocolate powder in milk, and it froths.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2025
"When you open a fizzy drink it froths, that's the CO2 coming out."
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2025
It's a natural deodorizer, froths up when mixed with vinegar, and is slightly abrasive, so it has excellent scrubbing power.
From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2021
In the video, a column of light gray smoke froths and bubbles into a bright blue sky — the initial fire in the port’s Hangar 12, where the ammonium nitrate was stored.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2021
Put a tablespoonful of butter in the blazer and when it froths add a green pepper and a very small onion, both chopped fine.
From The Myrtle Reed Cook Book by Myrtle Reed
The drink consists of cold-pressed espresso with frothed milk, dark chocolate, and peppermint flavors.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2022
The host held out a glass; behind him flashed a grey pic of the Bronx estuary, waves frothed with yellow foam.
From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2022
The print editions of their former sister publications Entertainment Weekly and InStyle, which once frothed with profit, stopped publishing in February.
From New York Times ● May 10, 2022
Pour yourself some coffee, add some frothed milk, snuggle under your gravity blanket, and enjoy a movie on your 1080p resolution video projector.
From The Verge ● Nov. 30, 2020
The water at the beach frothed and receded.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
Even when he’s been fiery, nearly frothing at the mouth, Day-Lewis has always been a master of stillness, relying on his tall, taut frame to hint at the formidable power or menace underneath.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2025
What that means is we failed a lot in order to perfect it, to make the Barista the highest quality it can be, especially when it comes to frothing qualities for making lattes and cappuccinos.
From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2024
George says both players are "frothing" at the prospect of facing South Africa.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2024
Suddenly, at the beach, there was life everywhere: fish frothing in the surf, fish flooding inlets.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2024
Here, with the issue of whether the Carter Cowboys would stay in the playoffs or be replaced by the Plano East Panthers, the place was packed and frothing.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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.
