Framing

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈfɹeɪmɪŋ/

Definitions

  1. The method of establishing a visual or conceptual outline that aids in interpretation The act of forming a defined border around an idea or image to facilitate understanding A technique used to influence how information or events are perceived and understood
  2. The process of building a structural skeleton for a building or object ; the act of presenting information or a story in a way that shapes audience perception
  3. Creating the basic framework that supports and shapes a construction ; organizing or arranging elements to influence interpretation and viewpoint

Etymology: The verb "frame" has a surprising ancestry: its oldest English sense was not about borders or structures at all, but about profit and advantage. Old English "framian" meant "to profit, avail, advance," and it descends from a Proto-Germanic verb meaning "to further, promote, perform." Its cousins survive in modern Scandinavian and Low German languages, where Swedish "främja" still means "to promote, encourage, foster." Middle English speakers used the verb to mean "to construct, build, strengthen, perform, execute," and the sense of building something according to a plan grew naturally from that. The noun followed a parallel path. Middle English "frame" meant "profit, benefit, advantage" and was taken from the verb, and it also drew on Old Norse "frami," which meant "advantage, fame, bravery, honor." Only later did "frame" come to mean a structure of any kind, a skeleton holding something up, which is the sense behind a picture frame. The origin of that structural sense is less certain. It may be a separate word altogether, and a similar Old French "frame" or "fraine" meaning "framework" might have been borrowed from English, from Norse, or even from a Frankish word related to Dutch "raam," meaning "window frame." Since the picture-frame and window-frame meanings share so much ground, the connection is tempting, but the exact route remains unresolved.

Synonyms: structuring, enclosing, bordering, outlining, shaping

Antonyms: destroying, dismantling, unframing, disassembling, disregarding