frame

FRAYM/fɹeɪm/

Pluralframes

Verbframes, framing, framed

36 meanings of frame

Practice

1
skeleton (building)nouncountable
The structure of joined parts that supports and gives shape to a building, vehicle, or other constructed object.
The bridge's iron frame was designed to flex slightly in high winds.
Engineers inspected the frame for cracks after the earthquake.
Similarframework, skeleton, structure, chassis
2
picture bordernouncountable
A rigid, usually rectangular support that holds paper, canvas, or other flexible material.
He fitted the print into a gilded frame before the exhibition.
An embroidery hoop acts as a small frame, keeping the cloth taut while you sew.
3
body buildnouncountable
The structure, size, and shape of a person's body; one's physical build.
The new uniform looked too small for his broad frame.
She carried the heavy pack easily on her sturdy frame.
UsageUsually with an adjective of size or strength: a broad frame, his thin frame.
Similarbuild, physique
Note
This sense treats the body as a built structure, the bones and proportions that hold everything else up. It usually takes a size or shape word, such as slight, small, wiry, large or muscular, and it describes build and bone structure more than weight, so a thin person can still have a large frame.
4
put behind glassverbtransitive
To place a painting or photograph inside a decorative border.
The gallery framed each etching in plain black wood.
They decided to frame the wedding portrait in gold leaf.
Similarmount
5
falsely accuseverbtransitive
To conspire to make an innocent person appear guilty of a crime.
The corrupt officers framed an innocent bystander to close the case quickly.
Defense attorneys argued that the police had moved to frame their client.
UsageFrame someone for a crime: they framed him for the robbery. The noun is a frame-up.
Similarincriminate, implicate
Oppositeexonerate, clear, vindicate
6
movie stillnouncountable
A single image on a strip of photographic film, or one of the still images that make up a film, video, or animation.
The lab found a fingerprint smudge on the last frame of the roll.
He enlarged a single frame from the contact sheet for the show.
Similarexposure, shot, image, still
Note
Sam Adams, writing in the AV Club, describes a character "on one side of the frame." A projector shows many frames in a single second, which is why video editors also measure time in frames.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Sam Adams used the quoted phrase in The A.V. Club. avclub.com
A film projector displays many frames per second. archives.gov
Video editors measure time using frames. helpx.adobe.com
7
fit in viewverbtransitive
To position something visually within a fixed boundary, as within a shot or image.
She framed the lighthouse against the breaking waves before pressing the shutter.
Directors frame each scene to draw the eye toward the lead actor.
Similarcompose, position
8
present asverbtransitive
To express or shape something, such as an argument or question, so that it is understood in a particular way.
The campaign tried to frame the merger as a victory for consumers.
She framed her resignation as a chance for the team to start fresh.
UsageUsually frame something as something: they framed the merger as a win.
Similarpresent, cast, portray, depict
Note
Framing is competitive. Whoever frames the argument first often sets the ground the other side must win on.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
Opposing parties compete to frame public arguments. faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu
9
perspectivenouncountable
A particular context or perspective that shapes how something is understood or interpreted.
Economists and historians approach the same event from very different frames.
Seen through a moral frame, the story reads as a parable rather than a tragedy.
Similarperspective, lens, framework, context, viewpoint
10
build structureverbtransitive
To build something by fitting and joining its parts, especially the structural framework of a building.
The crew will frame the second story once the foundation has cured.
Carpenters framed the addition with pressure-treated lumber.
Similarbuild, construct, erect, assemble
11
draw upverbtransitive
To bring something into form or order; to compose, plan, contrive, or devise it.
The founders framed a constitution to guide the new nation.
Experts were asked to frame a careful response to the crisis.
UsageUsed with abstract, orderly objects: frame a law, frame a question, frame a response.
Similardraft, formulate, devise, compose, craft
Note
Isaac Watts (1741) writes of reasonings framed in the mind. The Economist's 2016 obituary of Antonin Scalia says that what mattered was what the constitution's words meant "when it was framed." Philip Sidney even frames a countenance, arranging a face as one would arrange an argument.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Isaac Watts's The Improvement of the Mind was first published in 1741. archive.org
Watts writes of reasonings being framed in the mind. archive.org
The Economist's 2016 obituary of Antonin Scalia describes his view that the constitution's words should bear their meaning when it was framed; the quoted wording is exact. en.wiktionary.org
Philip Sidney uses frame of arranging a facial expression in Arcadia; the passage narrates Basilius's behaviour. gutenberg.org
12
data packetnouncountable
An independent chunk of data transmitted as a single unit over a network.
The switch forwards each frame to its destination using the MAC address.
Corrupted frames are detected and discarded by the receiver.
Note
Networking uses the word at the data-link layer, where data travels in units with a defined format. Typically, the data itself sits between a header and a trailer, and those outer fields can carry addressing, synchronization and error-detection information. They help a receiver find where a frame begins, identify whom it is for and check for transmission errors. That bracketing makes the name easy to picture: the content sits inside a border.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Frames are units used at the data-link layer. en.wikipedia.org
Frame structures depend on the protocol and can include optional or negotiated fields; frames need not have a fixed length. rfc-editor.org
This describes common frame formats, but framing protocols do not universally require both a header and a trailer. SLIP, for example, can begin directly with packet data. rfc-editor.org
These are common functions, but not every framing protocol supplies all of them. cisco.tu-sofia.bg

Less common meanings

13
bowling turnnouncountable
In ten-pin bowling, a turn made up of a set of balls (usually two, but one after a strike and up to three in the last frame) whose pinfall is added together for scoring.
A strike in the tenth frame earned her two extra balls.
He left a single pin standing at the end of the frame.
Note
Bowling scores by these turns, numbered through the game. The last frame has special rules: a strike or spare there earns a third ball. Do not confuse it with the set of standing pins, which bowling also calls a frame. One is a turn; the other is the target.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Bowling games are scored in numbered frames. bowl.com
A strike or spare in the final frame permits a third delivery. pba.com
Frame also denotes the complete starting arrangement of bowling pins, distinct from a player's turn. en.wiktionary.org
14
moodnoundatedcountable
A particular mood or state of mind; one's disposition.
And I partook of the infinite calm in which she lay: my mind was never in a holier frame than while I gazed on that untroubled image of Divine rest.
1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
to be always in a happy frame
UsageToday mostly in frame of mind: in a good frame of mind.
Similarmood, disposition, temper, humor, state
Note
Emily Brontë could still write in Wuthering Heights (1847) that "my mind was never in a holier frame," and to be in a happy frame once needed no more words.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights. en.wikipedia.org
Wuthering Heights was first published in 1847. en.wikisource.org
The quoted wording occurs in Wuthering Heights, within Nelly Dean's narration; the item identifies Brontë as its writer. en.wikisource.org
Bare frame historically meant disposition, allowing in a happy frame without of mind. en.wiktionary.org
15
inning (baseball)nounslangcountable
In baseball, an inning: one of the divisions of play in which each team takes a turn batting.
He hit a home run in the seventh frame to tie the game.
The reliever shut them down over the final two frames.
UsageUsed in commentary with ordinals, the seventh frame; in official scoring the word is inning.
Similarinning
16
web page panelnouncountable
A region of a webpage that loads and scrolls independently of the surrounding content.
The document opens inside a frame so the navigation bar stays in place.
Older websites split the screen into several frames.
Similarpane, panel
17
snooker gamenouncountable
In snooker, a single complete game, played from the break-off shot until enough balls have been potted to decide the winner.
She clinched the match by taking the deciding frame.
He potted the final black to steal the frame at the very end.
Similargame
Note
Snooker counts its matches in these, so you will hear of the deciding frame, or of a player who steals the frame on the final black. The trap for anyone who also bowls is scale. A snooker frame is a whole game, from break-off to finish, while the bowling frame is only one turn inside a game.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Snooker matches are counted in frames. en.wikipedia.org
A snooker frame comprises the complete individual contest, rather than one player's turn. wpbsa.com
A bowling frame is one turn within a larger game. pba.com
18
textile machinenoundatedUKcountable
Any of various machines built upon or within a framework, such as the spinning and knitting machines of the early textile industry.
The new spinning frame doubled the mill's output.
The old cotton mill still has a spinning frame from the 1800s.
Note
A dated, chiefly British name for machines built on or within a framework, usually met in compounds: stocking frame, lace frame, spinning frame. It belongs to the early textile industry. Today it appears mostly in histories of mills, of rising output, and of workers who feared the frames would cost them their jobs.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
Frame has a dated, chiefly British engineering sense meaning a machine built upon or within framework. en.wiktionary.org
Stocking frame, lace frame and spinning frame are examples of this sense. en.wiktionary.org
These machines belong to the history of the early textile industry. her.nottinghamshire.gov.uk
Workers feared that textile machinery would cost them their jobs. mylearning.org
19
plant shelternouncountable
A movable structure used for growing or sheltering plants.
Tender seedlings stayed in the frame until the weather warmed.
He lifted the glass lid of the frame to water the young plants.
UsageOften with a word in front: a cold frame, a cucumber frame.
Note
It is movable and often has a glass lid that is lifted for watering. It shelters tender seedlings until the weather warms.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
A gardening frame is a movable structure. en.wiktionary.org
Frames commonly have glass coverings. extension.missouri.edu
The lid can be lifted for watering. extension-store.montana.edu
Frames shelter tender young plants during their transition to outdoor growing conditions. rhs.org.uk
20
edge hit (tennis)verbtransitive
In tennis, to strike the ball with the rigid frame of the racquet rather than the strings, normally as a mishit.
He framed an easy volley and sent it sailing well past the baseline.
Players sometimes frame the return when a fast serve rushes them.
Similarmishit, shank
Note
Tennis turned the noun into a verb here: to frame the ball is to catch it on the racquet's rim instead of the strings. Because the shot is nearly always a mishit, the word reports an error rather than a technique.
21
noundatedcountable
In video games, a stage or location that the player moves through, especially in older titles.
Hunchback looks very good, bright, cheerful and with a loud tune. I think it could have had a bit more sound during the frame though.
1984, "Hunchback" (video game review) in Crash
When you play the game it will draw a set pattern depending on the frame you are on, with random additions to the pattern, to give a different orchard each time.
1982, Gilsoft International, Mongoose (video game instructions) [ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-info/m/Mongoose.txt]
Similarlevel, stage, screen, round
Note
The 1982 instructions for Gilsoft's Mongoose speak of "the frame you are on," and reviewers in Crash magazine in 1984 and 1985 used it for a game's stages. Words like level and screen took over later, so frame in this sense now reads as period vocabulary.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
A 1984 Crash review uses frame for a game's stage. en.wiktionary.org
A 1985 Crash review uses frame for a game's location. en.wiktionary.org
22
nounrare
In bowling, the complete set of pins arranged in their starting positions at the end of the lane, ready to be knocked down.
In knockemdowns and bowls ten pins are used, the centre one being called the king, and the ball has to be grounded before it reaches the frame.
1878, John Henry Walsh, British Rural Sports
23
noun
A way of dividing a nucleotide sequence into consecutive groups of three bases for reading into codons.
24
noun
In artificial intelligence, a structure for representing knowledge about a typical object or situation as a set of named attributes.
25
noun
In stamp collecting, the decorated outer border around the central design of a stamp or a cancellation mark.
26
verbdialectal
To clean crushed ore by washing it over a sloping wooden table.
27
verbdialectal
To get moving, especially to go off or away.
28
verbobsolete
To make one's way to a place.
The beautie of this ſinfull Dame, / Made many Princes thither frame, / To ſeeke her as a bedfellow, / In maryage pleaſures, playfellow:
c. 1607, William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?]
29
verbobsolete
To give strength or comfort to someone, reviving or sustaining them.
30
verbobsolete
To carry out or accomplish an act or task.
The silken tackle / Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands / That yarely frame the office.
c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”
31
verbobsolete
To give rise to something, making it happen.
Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds.
1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt,”
32
verbobsolete
To be of use or benefit.
33
verbobsolete
To suit or agree with something, going well together.
When thou hast turned them all ways, and done thy best to hew them and to make them frame, thou must be fain to cast them out.
1531, William Tyndale, An Answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue
34
verbobsolete
To manage to carry out an attempt or task.
35
nounobsolete
The act of plotting or scheming, or a plan worked out in this way.
John the bastard / Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies.
1598, William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”
36
noun
In lattice theory, a complete lattice where taking a meet with any join, even an infinite one, gives the join of the separate meets.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of frame apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 4–5, 7–8, 10–11, 20

From Middle English framen (to construct, build, strengthen, or perform), from Old English framian/fremman (to profit, avail, advance). This traces back through Proto-Germanic *framjaną (to further, promote, perform) to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning front or forward, and is related to Danish fremme and Swedish främja.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

Frame derives from Middle English framen, with meanings including constructing, building, strengthening, and performing. en.wiktionary.org
The Old English antecedents include framian and fremman, associated with profiting, availing, and advancing. en.wiktionary.org
The ancestry includes Proto-Germanic *framjaną, meaning to further, promote, or perform. en.wiktionary.org
The ancestry extends to a Proto-Indo-European formation meaning front or forward. en.wiktionary.org
Frame is related to Danish fremme and Swedish främja. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 1–3, 6, 9, 12–19, 21

Middle English frame meant "profit, benefit" and "a structure built to a plan," and it came both from the verb and from Old Norse frami ("advantage, honor, efficiency"). Where the sense "framework or structure" came from is uncertain. It may be connected with a rare frame found in Anglo-Norman and Old French, itself of unclear origin, which possibly goes back to Frankish *hramu ("frame"), a relative of Dutch raam ("window frame").