Mollie Panter-Downes
Did you know?
Frieze and Clothing
Both of the frieze homographs derive from French, but each entered that language through a different channel. The woolen homograph is from the Middle Dutch word vriese, which also refers to coarse wool. The other homograph of frieze is from the Latin word frisium, meaning "embroidered cloth." That word evolved from phrygium and Phrygia, the name of an ancient country of Asia Minor whose people excelled in metalwork, wood carving, and (unsurprisingly) embroidery. That embroidery lineage influenced the use of frieze for the middle division of an entablature, which commonly has a decorated surface resembling embroidered cloth.
Examples of frieze in a Sentence
Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 11 June 2024
In the gory battle scenes memorialized in Assyrian friezes in Nineveh, the ancient city that lay near modern-day Mosul, Verini sees parallels to the gruesome photos and videos Iraqis shared by smartphone.
—Anne Barnard, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2019
Much of the building’s exterior, including its intricate sculptures and friezes—the only polychrome features on the facade—was restored in various phases over the past two decades.
—Elissaveta M. Brandon, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 June 2024
The project of removing the marbles from the Parthenon, the fifth-century temple on the Acropolis, and shipping them to Britain took more than a decade—about half of the original five-hundred-and-twenty-four-foot frieze was removed, as were a number of life-size statues from the pediments.
—Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for frieze 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frieze.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near frieze
Cite this Entry
“Frieze.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frieze. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share