fringe
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A social group holding marginal or extreme views.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
frinjIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹɪndʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A social group holding marginal or extreme views
“Members of the fringe believe we should be armed with guns at all times.”
also figurative
A marginal or peripheral part.
also attributive
Those members of a political party, or any social group, holding extremist or unorthodox views.
A group of people situated on the periphery of a larger community.
A border of hair that is cut short and hangs across the forehead
An ornamental border consisting of short lengths of hanging threads or tassels
adjective
Outside the mainstream.
verb
Decorate with or as if with a surrounding fringe
“Fur fringed the hem of the dress.”
Adorn with a fringe
transitive
To serve as a fringe; to border.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A social group holding marginal or extreme views
Used this way, fringe is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Members of the fringe believe we should be armed with guns at all times.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- outskirt , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Social / membersnoun
“Members of the fringe believe we should be armed with guns at all times.”
Decorateverb
“Fur fringed the hem of the dress.”
More ways to use fringe
- “Members of the fringe believe we should be armed with guns at all times.”noun
- “Fur fringed the hem of the dress.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Plant growing in clumps with mostly basal leaves and cream-colored or pale pink fringed flowers in several long racemes.
With long pointed scales around toes.
Any of various small decorative flowering trees or shrubs of the genus Chionanthus.
A gecko that has membranous expansions along the sides of its body and limbs and tail that enable it to glide short distances.
Any of various herbs of the genus Gentianopsis having the margins of the corolla lobes fringed.
Bog plant with broadly heart-shaped basal leaves and cream-colored or white saucer-shaped flowers with fringed petals.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Orchid of northeastern and alpine eastern North America closely related to the purple fringed orchids but having rosy-purple or violet flowers with denticulate leaf divisions.
Orchid of northeastern and alpine eastern North America closely related to the purple fringed orchids but having rosy-purple or violet flowers with denticulate leaf divisions.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.