freezing
UK/ˈfɹiːz.ɪŋ/
freezing adjective: suffering or causing frost. Also the present participle and gerund of freeze.
Adjective
freezing (comparative more freezing, superlative most freezing)
- Suffering or causing frost.
- Very cold.
- The freezing point of water, zero degrees celsius.
- Despite this, the average temperature at the surface [of Mars] is 50–60K below freezing, making it hard to imagine that any plants or animals could survive.1998, Bruce Jakosky, The Search for Life on Other Planets
- Aloof, unfriendly.
- He turned at the door of the inner office and dropped a freezing eye on the offender. "Get those letters copied before you go out to lunch, Binns," he remarked in a sufficiently loud voice.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
- Jeff unconsciously reached out to touch the pewter casket, but was intercepted by the mother. She whisked his hand away with freezing politeness and said simply, "He's gone now."1986, Craig G. Harris, “Cut Off from Among Their People”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 64
Noun
freezing (countable and uncountable, plural freezings)
- The change in state of a substance from liquid to solid by cooling to a critically low temperature.
- The temp in the mountains may/can fall below freezing at this time of year.
- Hence, there is a succession of thawings and freezings. The former expand, and endeavour to restore the surface of the ground to its natural condition, while the latter contract and harden it.1829, James Macauley, The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New York
- The action of numbing with anesthetics.
Also used as
freezing is also the present participle and gerund of freeze.
freezing meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu
freezing in Hindi
- very cold
- अतिशीतल atiśītal
freezing in Tamil
- உறைநிலை
freezing in Marathi
- गोठणे, गोठण
freezing in Telugu
- గడ్డకట్టడం, గడ్డకట్టే, గడ్డకట్టేది
More languagesFewer languages
- freezing in Malayalam
- മരവിപ്പിക്കൽ
- freezing in Kannada
- ಘನೀಕರಿಸುವಿಕೆ
- freezing in Punjabi
- ਫ੍ਰੀਜ਼ਿੰਗ
- freezing in Gujarati
- ઠંડું પડવું, ફ્રીઝિંગ
Examples of freezing in a sentence
- You won't find it hot, but neither will you be freezing cold.
- The freezing rain covered our windshield with ice and we couldn't see a thing.
- Don't even touch that pump handle — it's freezing cold and your skin might freeze against it.
Synonyms of freezing
Forms of freezing
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more freezing |
| superlative | most freezing |
| Noun | |
| plural | freezings |
Origin of freezing
By surface analysis, freeze + -ing.
Words formed from freezing
Phrases with freezing
- freezing to
- freezing up
- freezing out
- freezing cold
- freezing onto
- freezing over
- freezing rain
- snap freezing
- flash freezing
- freezing level
- freezing on to
- freezing works
7 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with freezing
Questions about freezing
- What does freezing mean?
- Freezing means suffering or causing frost.
- What is freezing in Hindi?
- Freezing in Hindi is अतिशीतल (atiśītal). See Freezing meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is freezing?
- Freezing can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce freezing?
- Freezing is pronounced /ˈfɹiːz.ɪŋ/ (UK).
Words near freezing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: freezing (page history and authors); freezing (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freezing (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freezing (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freezing (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freezing (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freezing (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freezing (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-freezing.wav.
Cite this entry: “freezing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/freezing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.