freeze
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Usually of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
freezIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹiz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitivecopulative
Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
transitive
To lower something's temperature to the point that it freezes or becomes hard.
intransitive
To drop to a temperature below zero degrees celsius, where water turns to ice.
Change to ice
intransitiveof people and other animals
To stop (become motionless) or be stopped due to attentiveness, fear, surprise, etc.
To cause loss of animation or life in, from lack of heat; to give the sensation of cold to; to chill.
“I could freeze to death in this office when the air conditioning is turned on.”
noun
A period of intensely cold weather.
A halt of a regular operation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (intransitive, copulative) Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature.
Used this way, freeze is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use freeze
- “I could freeze to death in this office when the air conditioning is turned on.”verb
- “Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Electric refrigerator (trade name Deepfreeze) in which food is frozen and stored for long periods of time.
The withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A method of drying food or blood plasma or pharmaceuticals or tissue without destroying their physical structure.
Reject with contempt.
Change from a liquid to a solid when cold.
A mixture of substances (usually salt and ice) to obtain a temperature below the freezing point of water.
The temperature below which a liquid turns into a solid.
Change from a liquid to a solid when cold.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.