Framing

How to spell framing

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce framing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does framing mean?

1. nounThe framework or border that surrounds, supports, or encloses something, such as a building structure or a picture frame.
2. nounThe way in which a subject or argument is presented to shape how people interpret it.
3. nounThe act of falsely making an innocent person appear guilty of a crime.

Framing in a sentence

• The timber framing of the new extension went up in two days.

• The careful framing of the report made the cuts sound positive.

• The detective uncovered evidence of the deliberate framing of a witness.

• The gallery charged extra for the framing of each print.

• Analysts criticised the framing of the question in the survey.

• The appeal centred on the framing of an innocent suspect.

Where does framing come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base verb 'frame' descends from the Old English framian, which meant 'to be of service' or 'to make progress', and from the related fremman, 'to perform or accomplish'. These come from a Germanic root tied to the idea of moving something forward or making it ready, the same family that gives us 'from'. Over the Middle English period the sense narrowed from the general notion of preparing or shaping toward the specific idea of constructing a supporting structure, hence the timber 'frame' of a building. By the 1400s 'frame' also meant the border that surrounds and supports a picture, and the gerund 'framing' simply names that activity. The slang sense of 'framing' an innocent person, fitting them up for a crime, grew out of this same idea of constructing or shaping a false case around someone in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

How the word is built

• frame (from Old English framian: to be useful, to make ready)
• -ing (verbal noun/gerund suffix)