frivolous (adj.)

mid-15c., from Latin frivolus "silly, empty, trifling, worthless," diminutive of *frivos "broken, crumbled," from friare "break, rub away, crumble" (see friable). In law (by 1736), "so clearly insufficient as to need no argument to show its weakness." Related: Frivolously; frivolousness.

also from mid-15c.

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friable (adj.)

"easily crumbled or pulverized; easily reduced to powder," 1560s, from French friable (16c.) and directly from Latin friabilis "easily crumbled or broken," from friare "rub away, crumble into small pieces," related to fricare "to rub" (see friction). Related: Friability. "Confusion between the common word meaning crumbly & the -able adjective from fry is not likely enough to justify the irregular spelling fryable for the latter ...." [Fowler].

frivolity (n.)

1796, from French frivolité, from Old French frivole "frivolous," from Latin frivolus (see frivolous).

Trends of frivolous

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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serious

early 15c., "arranged in sequence, continuous" (a sense now obsolete); mid-15c., of persons, "expressing earnest purpose or thought, resolute," from Old French serios "grave, earnest" (14c., Modern French sérieux) and directly from Late Latin seriosus, from Latin serius "weighty,

persiflage

"light, flippant banter; an ironical or frivolous treatment of a subject," 1757, from French persiflage, from persifler "...

gallivant

"gad about, spend time in frivolous pleasure-seeking, especially with the opposite sex," 1809, of uncertain origin, perhaps...

light

Meaning "frivolous" is from early 13c.; that of "unchaste" from late 14c., both from the notion of "lacking moral gravity...

solid

Of arguments, etc., "substantial" (opposed to frivolous or flimsy)....

nice

late 13c., "foolish, ignorant, frivolous, senseless," from Old French nice (12c.)...

Thursday

fifth day of the week, Old English þurresdæg, a contraction (perhaps influenced by Old Norse þorsdagr) of þunresdæg, literally "Thor's day," from Þunre, genitive of Þunor "Thor" (see thunder (n.)); from Proto-Germanic *thonaras daga (source also of Old Frisian thunresdei, Middle

blunt

c. 1200, blunt, blont, "dull, obtuse" (of persons), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from or related to Old Norse blundra "to shut one's eyes" (see blunder (v.)). Or from Old English blinnan (past participle blon) "to stop, cease, come to an end." Of tools or weapons, "not sharp, wit

vessel

c. 1300, "container," from Old French vessel "container, receptacle, barrel; ship" (12c., Modern French vaisseau) from Late Latin vascellum "small vase or urn," also "a ship," alteration of Latin vasculum, diminutive of vas "vessel." Sense of "ship, boat" is found in English from

discriminate

1620s, "distinguish from something else or from each other, observe or mark the differences between," from Latin discriminatus, past participle of discriminare "to divide, separate," from discrimen (genitive discriminis) "interval, distinction, difference," derived noun from disc

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updated on September 28, 2017

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Dictionary entries near frivolous

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frizzle

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Frobelian