Meaning & use
to frame someone
Last updated
Meaning
phrasetransitive
To deliberately make an innocent person seem guilty of a crime or wrongdoing.
Grammar: Takes an object: frame someone. Often followed by 'for' and the crime: frame someone for murder.
Patterns
- frame someone for something
- frame someone as something
The gang tried to frame him for the robbery by planting stolen goods in his car.
She claimed that her ex-boyfriend had framed her for the theft.
He was framed by corrupt police officers who wanted to close the case quickly.
Common combinations
- frame someone for a crime
- They framed him for a crime he didn't commit.
- be framed by someone
- She was framed by her business partner.
- wrongly framed
- He spent years in prison after being wrongly framed.
- frame an innocent person
- The police must never frame an innocent person.
Synonyms and how they differ
- set up
- Similar meaning but more informal; often used when someone is tricked into a situation that makes them look guilty.
- fabricate evidence against
- More formal and specific; focuses on inventing false evidence rather than the whole act of framing.
Opposites
Word family
- frame-up noun
- A situation in which someone is deliberately made to look guilty.
- framer noun
- A person who frames someone else.
Commonly confused: to frame someone or blame?
to frame someone vs blame
Blame means to say someone is responsible for something bad; frame means to make them seem guilty by creating false evidence.
Practice
The criminals tried to ______ the bank manager for the robbery by hiding money in his office.
Choose one answer.
'Frame' fits because it means to make someone seem guilty by planting evidence. 'Blame' and 'accuse' are about saying someone did something, but they don't imply creating false evidence. 'Charge' is a legal term meaning to formally accuse, which also doesn't fit the act of planting evidence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “to frame someone”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.