What's the difference between frolic and merriment?

Frolic


Definition:

  • (a.) Full of levity; dancing, playing, or frisking about; full of pranks; frolicsome; gay; merry.
  • (n.) A wild prank; a flight of levity, or of gayety and mirth.
  • (n.) A scene of gayety and mirth, as in lively play, or in dancing; a merrymaking.
  • (v. i.) To play wild pranks; to play tricks of levity, mirth, and gayety; to indulge in frolicsome play; to sport.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This is not a time to be engaged in a frolic,” he says.
  • (2) If ministers have ordered the public service to pursue this anti-democratic frolic it’s a clear abuse of power.
  • (3) Known for his flamboyant verbal attacks and overturning even the largest electoral majorities of his opponents, he has taken in everything from US senate committee hearings to feline frolics in Celebrity Big Brother.
  • (4) The flicker and dazzle was conducive to hallucinatory drugs and the hi-tech fun 'n' frolics found the perfect interzone between futurism and regression to childhood.
  • (5) Even then a madcap day was not done with folly and frolic as France, on their own line, 20 points down and with nothing at all to gain, tapped and ran.
  • (6) Instead of a sober inquisitorial process it descended into an adversarial attack, and instead of a search for the truth we witnessed taxpayer-funded lawyers on a frolic, cross-examining police officers as if they were on trial.” King cited the cross-examination of a senior police commander as an example of lawyers “twisting words” and grandstanding to the media.
  • (7) The indulgence of knights and dames: nostalgia for empire, a frolic that does nothing beyond telling voters Abbott is too in love with the past to understand the future.
  • (8) Girls laugh and frolic joyfully in the water, their brightly coloured jilbabs soaking as the tide comes in.
  • (9) Look at it again, if you doubt me - he's the heart and head of the picture, and he is delighted to realise that North By Northwest is a frolic, a dance in mid-air, a fabulous absurdity.
  • (10) If he responds that it has been a thrill to be the first Liberal in many, many decades to be entitled deputy prime minister, then he will expose himself to the accusation that he is on a power frolic while thousands of voters are suffering the effects of spending cuts, tax rises and job losses.
  • (11) Hours later a criminal case relating to Mr Skuratov's alleged sexual frolics was opened, which was used as the basis for Mr Yeltsin's decree ordering his suspension.
  • (12) When I was a minister, I would never have countenanced my chief of staff going to such a meeting without my imprimatur and my approval so I think a question does need to be answered whether the chief of staff was there on a frolic of his own or with the imprimatur of the deputy leader.
  • (13) As the transfer window gasps and sweats its way through the usual high-summer Sahara of inanity there is a newfound starchiness about Spurs’ recruitment, a rolling back from all the fun and frolic towards the youth-oriented austerity promised by Daniel Levy in the spring.
  • (14) Brooke, more deeply confused than ever, composed a poem, Beauty on Beauty, celebrating their moonlit frolics, but when he was alone with Gardner, his compliments were at best ambiguous.
  • (15) Tony Abbott will spend the early part of the coming week in a targeted outreach effort with ethnic minorities in Sydney and Melbourne in an effort to build local support for the Coalition’s counter-terrorism measures, and also soothe a grassroots backlash prompted by the government’s early frolic on hate speech.
  • (16) He is an opposition politician.” Another government minister said Farage was clearly “on a frolic of his own”, adding that high-level visits were already being planned.
  • (17) Paragliders sail overhead, children frolic in the shallow waves and a camel train carrying sunburned Europeans ambles down Sousse beach as the sun hits its midday peak.
  • (18) You can still work while the little ones frolic in the sand.
  • (19) The first surgical anesthetics were a consequence of the resulting student "ether frolics."
  • (20) The Australian Council of Trade Unions condemned the “narrow” terms of reference, saying the government had “embarked on a $100m frolic which is aimed at damaging unions”.

Merriment


Definition:

  • (n.) Gayety, with laughter; mirth; frolic.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) That merriment is not just tankards and quaintness and mimsy Morris dancing, but a witty, angry and tender fire at the centre of Englishness.
  • (2) Christmas is a time for joy, celebration and bringing together family and friends to share this merriment.
  • (3) They are the only couple from the state dinner to get their picture on the front page of the Washington Post, and they were the source of a mix of merriment at their daring and alarmist speculation on the morning television shows about what would have happened if they had been Islamist extremists.
  • (4) For a long time, for me, one of the best things about the new year and Christmas was that it was a time for socially acceptable drunkenness, an occasion when even falling-over-in-the-street-drunkenness would be tolerated in the name of festive merriment.
  • (5) Back in 1776, the sage of Kirkcaldy noted: "People of the same trade seldom meet together even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
  • (6) The central characters of the show entitled "Health and Merriment" were: the housewife Larimunda, the druggist Salim, and the clowns Banziero, Xulex, and Primentinha.
  • (7) If you are visiting Denmark around 23-24 June, you are likely to be invited to gather round a huge beach bonfire with much drinking, eating, singing and merriment.
  • (8) A young couple, screeching with merriment, went past on their way to a bar or nightclub.
  • (9) I have no idea what "real sex" is and even less after reading the Mumsnet thread of the bedside 'penis beaker' (a dunking cup for hygiene purposes that has caused much merriment online ).
  • (10) Not just to remember how to pronounce "caxirola", but for general merriment.
  • (11) Dennis was beloved by his friends for his originality as a poet, his acuity as a critic, his probity and courage and merriment as a man.
  • (12) The effect is of a party recently ended, of a room still ringing with merriment, laughter and dancing.
  • (13) This tour of royal duty presumably produced the desired effect – positive media reporting – no doubt resulting in much merriment among the corridors of the royal household.
  • (14) Along with the origins on the South Bank, the merriment at the fact that funds are so tight, Walker often has to take the bus … It all suggests difference of the wrong kind: that the life experiences of Mayer, Toksvig and Walker may be alienatingly divergent from the people they want to reach.
  • (15) In the end, our futile midwinter merriment comes from the heart.
  • (16) It took Bryan Cranston four nominations to finally nab best actor, drama, for his role as the teacher-turned-druglord Walter White; on collecting his award, Cranston drily suggested that the exposure would bring the show's "mirth and merriment" to the world.
  • (17) After 2000, they are almost always funny, extended merriment concerning trousers with elasticated waistbands and grumpiness about modern music.
  • (18) Even opposition MPs realised today that the launch of IDS's Cunning Plan was not a day for merriment.
  • (19) But it’s not only musical merriment that revs up the crowds at its flagship London night at Koko: Rowley swoops in on new cabaret talent, too.