Frivolity is a type of clownishness or silliness. Frivolity is the opposite of getting down to business in a serious way. If people are running around a classroom, throwing things, and laughing, the teacher might say, Why all the frivolity?. This is a word for clowning or horsing around â not being serious.
The definition of whilom is something former, or that once was. 1  An example of something whilom is a friend that you were close to in middle school. 2  An example of something whilom is a job that you once had.
References in classic literature ? He found favor in the eyes of the mothers by petting the children, particularly the youngest; and like the lion bold, which whilom so magnanimously the lamb did hold, he would sit with a child on one knee, and rock a cradle with his foot for whole hours together.