frumpy
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- frumpily adverb
- frumpiness noun
Etymology
Origin of frumpy
Explanation
To be frumpy is to be out of date style-wise. If you want to get on your mom's bad side, tell her she looks frumpy. Have you ever seen one of those old one-piece bathing suits that cover almost the entire body? A woman wearing one of those today would be considered frumpy. This word has to do with how people — especially women — dress. A fashion model is not likely to be frumpy. When you look frumpy, your clothes are out of date and also modest, boring, or drab. Frumpy is the opposite of stylish.
Vocabulary lists containing frumpy
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
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Summer of the Mariposas
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Little Fires Everywhere
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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.
After Fawlty Towers, Scales continued to work in television, including a stint as the frumpy Elizabeth Mapp in ITV's Mapp and Lucia.
From BBC • Oct. 28, 2025
What’s left is a narrowed, frumpy prestige app that feels like HBO Now and HBO Go, complemented only by a limited window of BritBox previews.
From Slate • Aug. 7, 2025
The pair broke movie conventions with "Everything Everywhere," spinning a chaotic tale about a stressed-out laundromat owner, her increasingly distant family and a frumpy tax agent across a multiple dimensions.
From Reuters • Mar. 13, 2023
But she played well against type in “Everything Everywhere” as a grumpy, frumpy tax auditor.
From New York Times • Mar. 12, 2023
“I don’t want to wear anything real pretty and lacy to the game. I prefer to wear something real ugly and frumpy instead.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
