ice
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
Water frozen in the solid state.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ahysIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈaɪs
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.
noun
Water frozen in the solid state
“Americans like ice in their drinks.”
The frozen part of a body of water
Water in frozen (solid) form.
physicsastronomy
Any frozen volatile chemical, such as ammonia or carbon dioxide.
countable
A frozen dessert made of fruit juice, water and sugar.
A frozen dessert with fruit flavoring (especially one containing no milk)
verb
Cause to become ice or icy
intransitive
To become ice; to freeze.
transitive
To cool with ice, as an injured body part or a beverage.
transitive
To make icy; to freeze.
transitive
To cover with icing (frosting made of sugar and milk or white of egg); to frost; as cakes, tarts, etc.
transitiveslang
To murder.
adjective
Placed or standing apart or alone; in isolation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Water frozen in the solid state
Used this way, ice is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Americans like ice in their drinks.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “ice in …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Nearby words
- ice rink , rarer, so it draws attention
Natural pattern: ice in …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use ice
- “Americans like ice in their drinks.”noun
- “The crowd applauded when she skated out onto the ice.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: water frozen in the solid state
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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.