filigree

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 

View all »
Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun Delicate and intricate ornamental work made from gold, silver, or other fine twisted wire.
  2. noun An intricate, delicate, or fanciful ornamentation.
  3. noun A design resembling such ornamentation: filigrees of frosting on a cake.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (2)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples

  • It was longer than one of our weapons and the pommel was obviously of pure gold filigree-work, of a delicacy that I had never seen before. —  River God
  • Raising his gaze to the filigree-edged mirror, he tried to understand what had happened to him, and how. —  Into the Thinking Kingdoms
  • The women wore truly exquisite jewelry of black filigree, some of it faceted and polished in places until it sparkled like gemstones. —  Elvenblood
  • All of the people here were attired like the Priest, with the same iron torque with the flame-filigree pendant The tent itself was plain enough, just a few cushions and some colorful blankets, with a cold brazier set under the smoke hole. —  Elvenblood
  • Come! '— and instantly there rushed up to us a huge golden throne of light filigree-work, borne upon seven pinions, whereof each was fledged above with feathers fair and white, but underneath they were ribbed batlike, and fringed with black down: and all around fluttered beautiful winged faces, mingled and disporting with grotesque figures and hideous imps. —  My Life as an Author
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

Filigree has been looked up 265 times, favorited once, listed 50 times, and commented on twice.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Alteration of French filigrane, from Italian filigrana : Latin fīlum, thread; see gwhī- in Indo-European roots + Latin grānum, grain; see gr̥ə-no- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Also filigree, filagree, fillagree; a corruption, through an earlier form *filigreen, filegreen, of the orig. form filigrain, q. v.
  2. filigree, n.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/ˈfɪlɪgri/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a year.

Recent Lookups

permission · messageboard · kvetched · Jakarta · Clare

Recent Favorites

airship · cloud-shadows · ombrophobous · turncoat · metaplasm

Recent Pronunciations

milosrdenstvi · lichen-covered · futon · sagacity · monoragngocious