Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A girl or woman regarded as dull, plain, or unfashionable.
- n. A person regarded as colorless and primly sedate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To be rude to; insult; snub; rebuke.
- To fabricate or patch up (a tale).
- To be rude.
- To go about gossiping.
- To complain without cause.
- n. A taunt; a jeer; a flout; a snub.
- n. A lie.
- n. A dowdy woman or girl, particularly when also cross or ill-tempered; a hag.
- n. A gossip.
Wiktionary
- n. A frumpy person, somebody who is unattractive, drab or dowdy.
- n. The clothes that such a person would wear.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To insult; to flout; to mock; to snub.
- n. A contemptuous speech or piece of conduct; a gibe or flout.
- n. A cross, old-fashioned person; esp., an old woman; a gossip.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a dull unattractive unpleasant girl or woman
Etymologies
- Possibly short for Middle English frumple, wrinkle, from Middle Dutch verrompelen, to wrinkle : ver-, completely; see per1 in Indo-European roots + rompelen, to wrinkle.
Examples
“I'll bet Bill Clinton took time out from his usual campaign "frump", picked up his cell phone, and gave Mr. Patterson a "little advice" about his choice of words to the media!!”
“Casual frump" is definitely my ranch look.”
“Okay, like everyone else, I too was staggered that such a seemingly trained voice should come out the mouth of a woman who's been dubbed a 'frump'.”
“Just because you remember Ann Taylor as the ultimate purveyor of frump, doesn't mean she still is.”
The Huffington Post: Style Section L.A.: Ready, Set, Shop: L.A.'s 5 Newest Fashion and Beauty Spots
“Despite his lifelong passion for smart society women, he married an unmitigated frump: Johanna von Puttkamer, who dined at five, dressed unfashionably, and dodged every invitation the Bismarcks received for political and social engagements.”
“Now I am sure if I was worried about not appearing cool I would have went out of my way not to dress like a frump, or, talk about frumpy type topics, but (a big but) to go in the other direction and engage them on their level would have discredit my authority.”
“Not wanting to continue along that path, I put myself on simple, uncomplicated programs (including what's listed above), which helped me lose the weight, get strong and lean, improve my skin and "fight the frump.”
“I prefer to be good because it is good to be good, rather than because I can't be bad because some argus-eyed old frump won't let me have a chance to be bad.”
“I think the “frump” factor stems from the lack of a waist.”
“Also, I agree the frump is coming from the sleeves.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘frump’.
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Words that have gone out of fashion
words are fashionable -wane and wax - in usage. This is an open list of those words now out of fashion.
marconigram, flapper, bully, glockenspiel, periphrastic, bouffant, cackle, oldfangled, brigadoon, nohow, cat-salt, indecorous and 39 more...
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fliti's Words
panache, mushaboom, aubergine, serpentine, glimpse, schadenfreude, syzygy, plethora, zeitgeist, defenestrate, callipygian, ubiquitous and 239 more...
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Wordplayer's Wonderful Words
chaparral, grotesque, knork, newsmonger, thitherwards, fackeltanz, kakistocracy, sforzando, compendium, frump, inquere, phosphene and 99 more...
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pamelad's Words
lugubrious, antediluvian, decrepitude, anomaly, regurgitate, apoplexy, prolix, incapacitate, discontinuity, bellicose, inclement, frangible and 158 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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for words
based upon per- indo-european root
turnverein, veer, frump, far, per, paramount, paramour, parget, parterre, parvenu, perissodactyl, palanquin and 133 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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Sluts, Bitches, and Goddesses
Words for women.
floozie, whore, cunt, tart, trull, ianfu, demimondaine, demimonde, ball-buster, ball-breaker, bar girl, b-girl and 84 more...
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Favourite Insults
wanker, bozo, crackpot, twerp, smarty pants, clodhopper, blackguard, frump, wimp, bumpkin, dick head, chump and 37 more...
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mcdougall
0wnage, pwnage, shine, spike, bob, prestroy, stupidguy, peachstroy, ha-cha, ka-cha, zz, frump
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Chocolate Factory Chapter 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 2...
Vocabulary for Chapter's 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 & 30 of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
disturb, wretched, violently, scarlet, despair, hollow, rubbish, cross, precipice, intently, frump, staggered and 6 more...
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ill-bred
gaucherie, rusticity, rowdyism, scoundrel, blackguard, ruffianism, mauvais plaisanterie, frippery, geegaw, fump, frump, ribald and 30 more...
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The Inside Jokes
frump, defrock, birefringence, cabotage, westward, stye, tourniquet, leather, mansion, circumlocution, pneumonoultramicr..., haboob and 15 more...
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UMP
bump, clump, chump, dump, frump, grump, hump, jump, lump, mumps, pump, plump and 5 more...
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wacas words
convalesce, despicable, venality, anodyne, gosling, whorl, meretricious, lithe, metonymy, cavern, thoroughbred, frivolous and 44 more...
Joyce, Ulysses, 13 Jan 14, 2007