A type of Spacecraft from EVE Online. Small, fast but fragile vessels suited to a variety of purposes, especially tackling.
Frigates are the smallest and fastest ships in EVE. New pilots begin by flying frigates, and the Tech 1 frigates only cost a few hundred thousand ISK. Don't be fooled by the low cost of frigates and the fact that they're used by novice pilots, though: frigates can play an important role in battle, and in numbers or with skilled pilots even Tech 1 frigates can be deadly.
There are a number of classes of Tech 2 frigates, which have advanced abilities and are also much more focused on a particular role: tackling Interceptor (EVE Online)s, cloaking and scanning covert ops frigates, surprise-attack stealth bombers, electronic attack frigates for electronic warfare, and assault frigates, which are designed purely to deal and survive damage.