frumpy

English
WOTD – 12 March 2009

Etymology

Either from frump or from Middle English frumple +‎ -y.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfɹʌm.pɪ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈfɹʌm.pi/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: (US) -ʌmpi

Adjective

frumpy (comparative frumpier, superlative frumpiest)

  1. Dowdy, unkempt, or unfashionable.
    She came to the door in a frumpy housedress and bedroom slippers.
    • July 23 2005, Siobhan Roberts, “John Horton Conway: the world’s most charismatic mathematician”, in The Guardian‎:
      Although still young at heart and head, he looks more and more like his old friend Archimedes, increasingly bearded and increasingly grey, with an otherworldly mien – a look that should earn him a spot in the online quiz featuring portraits of frumpy old men under the rubric “Prof or Hobo?”
  2. (dated) Bad-tempered.

Translations
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