Library / English Dictionary

FRINGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An ornamental border consisting of short lengths of hanging threads or tassels

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fringe" is a kind of...):

edging (border consisting of anything placed on the edge to finish something (such as a fringe on clothing or on a rug))

Derivation:

fringe (decorate with or as if with a surrounding fringe)

fringe (adorn with a fringe)

fringy (at or constituting a border or edge)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A border of hair that is cut short and hangs across the forehead

Synonyms:

bang; fringe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("fringe" is a kind of...):

coif; coiffure; hair style; hairdo; hairstyle (the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A social group holding marginal or extreme views

Example:

members of the fringe believe we should be armed with guns at all times

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("fringe" is a kind of...):

social group (people sharing some social relation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A part of the city far removed from the center

Example:

they built a factory on the outskirts of the city

Synonyms:

fringe; outskirt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("fringe" is a kind of...):

city district (a district of a town or city)

Meronyms (parts of "fringe"):

suburb; suburban area; suburbia (a residential district located on the outskirts of a city)

Sense 5

Meaning:

One of the light or dark bands produced by the interference and diffraction of light

Synonyms:

fringe; interference fringe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("fringe" is a kind of...):

optical phenomenon (a physical phenomenon related to or involving light)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The outside boundary or surface of something

Synonyms:

fringe; outer boundary; periphery

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("fringe" is a kind of...):

bound; boundary; edge (a line determining the limits of an area)

Derivation:

fringy (at or constituting a border or edge)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Decorate with or as if with a surrounding fringe

Example:

fur fringed the hem of the dress

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "fringe" is one way to...):

border; environ; ring; skirt; surround (extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

fringe (an ornamental border consisting of short lengths of hanging threads or tassels)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Adorn with a fringe

Example:

The weaver fringed the scarf

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "fringe" is one way to...):

adorn; beautify; decorate; embellish; grace; ornament (make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.)

Domain category:

handicraft (a craft that requires skillful hands)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fringe (an ornamental border consisting of short lengths of hanging threads or tassels)

Credits

 Context examples: 

This protein is a member of the fringe family which also includes Radical and Lunatic fringe.

(Manic Fringe, NCI Thesaurus)

Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my elbow, the hill bare and dark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high and fringed with great masses of fallen rock.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Now, as he pushed his way through the looser fringe the head was raised, and there was the grinning, hardy face of the smith looking up at us.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Two rows of vascular fringes projecting from the underside of the tela choroidea where it exists over the third ventricle where cerebrospinal fluid is produced.

(Choroid Plexus of the Third Ventricle, NCI Thesaurus)

Two vascular fringes, one on each side of the lower part of the roof of the fourth ventricle where cerebrospinal fluid is produced.

(Choroid Plexus of the Fourth Ventricle, NCI Thesaurus)

A vascular fringe projecting from the choroidal fissure into each lateral ventricle where cerebrospinal fluid is produced.

(Choroid Plexus of the Lateral Ventricle, NCI Thesaurus)

A short walk brought us to a secluded road fringed with pleasant houses, each standing in its own grounds.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Goldenrod and asters fringed the mossy walls.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She was dressed in pure white; an amber-coloured scarf was passed over her shoulder and across her breast, tied at the side, and descending in long, fringed ends below her knee.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And as he had seen horses work, so he was set to work, hauling François on a sled to the forest that fringed the valley, and returning with a load of firewood.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)