To Frame Someone Means to Build a Case Around Them
A frame is a rigid structure around something. To frame a person means to construct false evidence, using the same building metaphor.
A frame is a rigid structure that surrounds or supports something. The criminal sense follows the construction one: to *frame* someone is to build a false case around them, piece by piece, the way a carpenter builds a frame. Old English *framian* meant to be useful or to construct, and the sense of building never left. In film, a frame is one still image; in psychology, *framing* is how the presentation of a choice changes the decision.
- A rigid structure. *A picture frame.*
- A body's build. *A slight frame.*
- One image in film. *Twenty-four frames a second.*
- To incriminate falsely. *He was framed.*
- Framing — how something is presented. *The framing of the question.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | frame | A wooden frame. |
| Plural | frames | Two frames. |
| Verb | frame | Frame the picture. |
| Noun | framework | A framework. |
| Old English | framian | To be useful. |
- The photograph is in a silver frame.Object.
- He claimed he had been framed.Crime.
- Framing changes how people answer.Psychology.
The framing effect
- The same fact presented two ways gets different responses
- Ninety per cent survival sounds better than ten per cent mortality
- Identical numbers, opposite reactions
- Studied by Kahneman and Tversky from the 1970s
- It affects experts too, including doctors and judges
Old English *framian*, to be useful or to make progress, from a Germanic root meaning forward. The sense of a structure developed in Middle English.
Why does frame mean to incriminate?
From the building sense: a false case is constructed around the person, piece by piece.
What is the framing effect?
The way the same information produces different decisions depending on how it is presented, such as survival rates versus mortality rates.