What does "fringe" mean?
A decorative border.
Fringe
/fɹɪnd͡ʒ/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A decorative border.
- Grammar: fringe is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: periphery, abut, adjoin, alternative.
- Useful contrasts: backbones, bald, bedrock.
- Usage evidence: I recommend putting up your hair so your fringe doesn't get on your forehead.
How to use "fringe"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "fringe" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "fringe" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "fringe" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "fringe" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "fringe" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "periphery" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "fringe", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A decorative border.
"the fringe of a picture"
- 2 an ornamental border consisting of short lengths of hanging threads or tassels wordnet
- 3 A decorative border.; A border or edging. broadly
"He walked up the heath’s western edge, beside a fringe of scrub where hogweed grew in tangles and brambles rose taller than him."
- 4 a border of hair that is cut short and hangs across the forehead wordnet
- 5 A marginal or peripheral part. also, figuratively
"the confines of grace and the fringes of repentance"
Show 14 more definitions
- 6 a social group holding marginal or extreme views wordnet
- 7 A group of people situated on the periphery of a larger community.
"About an hour later, the two were sitting at a comparatively isolated table in a restaurant called Sickler’s, downtown, a highly favored place among, chiefly, the intellectual fringe of students at the college—the same students, more or less, who, had they been Yale or Harvard men, might rather too casually have steered their dates away from Mory’s or Cronin’s."
- 8 a part of the city far removed from the center wordnet
- 9 A group of people situated on the periphery of a larger community.; Those members of a political party, or any social group, holding extremist or unorthodox views. also, attributive
"a fringe group of the party"
- 10 one of the light or dark bands produced by the interference and diffraction of light wordnet
- 11 The periphery of an area, especially a town or city.
"He lives on the fringe of London."
- 12 the outside boundary or surface of something wordnet
- 13 The periphery of an area, especially a town or city.; Used attributively with reference to Aboriginal people living on the edge of towns etc. Australia
"All the fringe people thought it was such a good house, ingenious in fact, and erected similar makeshift housing for themselves."
- 14 Synonym of bangs: hair hanging over the forehead, especially a hairstyle where it is cut straight across. UK
"Her fringe is so long it covers her eyes."
- 15 A light or dark band formed by the diffraction of light.
"interference fringe"
- 16 Non-mainstream theatre.
"The Fringe"
- 17 The peristome or fringe-like appendage of the capsules of most mosses.
- 18 The area around the green
- 19 A daypart that precedes or follows prime time.
Verb
- 1 To decorate with fringe. transitive
"[Y]onder cloud / That rises upward always higher, / And onward drags a labouring breast, / And topples round the dreary west, / A looming bastion fringed with fire."
- 2 decorate with or as if with a surrounding fringe wordnet
- 3 To serve as a fringe; to border. transitive
"Purple bonnets fringed soft, pink, querulous faces on pillows in bath chairs."
- 4 adorn with a fringe wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Outside the mainstream.
"So was the cellist Charlotte Moorman, muse to Nam June Paik and proactivist champion of all things fringe."
Antonyms
Example
"I recommend putting up your hair so your fringe doesn't get on your forehead."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "fringe"?
Common synonyms include: periphery, abut, adjoin, alternative, apparent, approach.
How do you use "fringe" in a sentence?
I recommend putting up your hair so your fringe doesn't get on your forehead.
How do you pronounce "fringe"?
Pronounced /fɹɪnd͡ʒ/.
Etymology
From Middle English frenge, from Old French frenge, from Vulgar Latin *frimbia, a metathesis of Latin fimbriae (“fibers, threads, fringe”, plural), of uncertain origin. Compare German Franse and Danish frynse. Displaced native Middle English fnæd (“fringe”), Middle English byrd (“fringe”), Middle English fasel (“fringe”) from Old English fæs (“fringe”), and Old English fnæs (“fringe”). Doublet of fimbria.