Nathaniel HawthorneHugh Gallagher
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Frolic is a word rooted in pleasure. Its most common function today is as a verb meaning “to play and run about happily,” as in “children frolicking in the waves,” but it joined the language in the 16th century as an adjective carrying the meaning of its Dutch source vroolijk: “full of fun; merry.” Shakespeare’s Puck used it this way in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, saying “And we fairies … following darkness like a dream, now are frolic.” Verb use quickly followed, and by the early 17th century the word was also being used as a noun, as in “an evening of fun and frolic.”
Synonyms
Adjective
- bouncy
- bubbly
- buoyant
- crank [chiefly dialect]
- effervescent
- exuberant
- frolicsome
- gamesome
- gay
- high-spirited
- vivacious
Verb
Noun
Examples of frolic in a Sentence
Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Sep. 2024
Parent heaven: a place to hang out under shade trees while the little ones frolic.
—Sarah Shemkus, BostonGlobe.com, 21 June 2023
Lisa Stardust, People.com, 10 Oct. 2024
The frolicking, spoiled dragons are all singing and twirling and chittering, and this is like the working-class dragon, out here just trying to survive.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2024
EW.com, 30 Oct. 2024
All those dogs with no sanctioned place to bark and hump and frolic and fight.
—Christopher Robbins, Curbed, 15 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for frolic 
Dictionary Entries Near frolic
Cite this Entry
“Frolic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frolic. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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