Word
freeze
US/ˈfɹiz/
UK/fɹˈiːz/
Forms
Infinitive
freeze
Past
froze
Past participle
frozen
Definitions
01to turn into ice
v. to become solid because of very cold temperatures.
v. to undergo a phase change from liquid to solid due to the reduction of temperature below a freezing point.
“The lake will freeze over if the temperature stays below zero all week.”
“Water pipes in older buildings are prone to bursting when the water inside begins to freeze and expand during a cold snap.”
02to stop moving
v. to suddenly stop moving because you are scared or surprised.
v. to become suddenly motionless, typically as a physiological response to fear, shock, or a need for concealment.
“The deer heard a loud noise and froze in the middle of the road.”
“When the witness saw the intruder, she froze in terror, unable to reach for the phone or call for help.”
Synonyms
Antonyms
03computer/system
v. to stop working or stop responding to your mouse and keyboard.
v. of a computer program or hardware system, to cease responding to user input or to stop processing instructions.
“My laptop always seems to freeze when I try to open too many tabs.”
“The application would frequently freeze during the rendering process, forcing the designers to restart the entire workstation.”
Informal
04to fix prices or assets
v. to officially stop something from changing, like prices or access to money.
v. to fix prices, wages, or credits at a specific level; or to legally prevent the movement or withdrawal of financial assets.
“The government decided to freeze electricity prices for the rest of the year.”
“The court ordered the bank to freeze the suspect's accounts while the fraud investigation was ongoing.”
Formal
Antonyms
05cold weather
n. a period of time when the weather is extremely cold.
n. a period of weather with temperatures below the freezing point of water.
“The sudden freeze in April killed many of the young plants in the garden.”
“Meteorologists warned that the overnight freeze would create hazardous driving conditions on untreated rural roads.”
Antonyms
06a stop on hiring or pay
n. an official rule that stops a company from hiring new people or raising pay.
n. an administrative policy that prohibits increases in wages or the recruitment of new staff for a specific period.
“The company announced a hiring freeze because they needed to save money.”
“Despite the budget surplus, the university maintained a strict recruitment freeze across all administrative departments.”
Academic
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English fresen, from Old English frēosan (“to freeze”), from Proto-West Germanic freusan, from Proto-Germanic freusaną (“to freeze”), from Proto-Indo-European *prews- (“to freeze; frost”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian friis, friise, früüs (“to freeze”), Saterland Frisian fjoose, frjoze (“to freeze”), West Frisian frieze (“to freeze”), Central Franconian freese (“to freeze”), Cimbrian briizan, vriizan (“to be cold”), Dutch vriezen (“to freeze”), Low German freren, fresen (“to freeze”), Luxembourgish fréieren (“to freeze”), German frieren (“to freeze”), Yiddish פֿרירן (frirn, “freeze”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål fryse (“to freeze”), Icelandic frjósa (“to freeze”), Norwegian Nynorsk frysa, fryse (“to freeze”), Swedish frysa (“to freeze”); also Cornish rew (“frost, ice”), Irish reo (“frost”), reoigh (“to freeze”), Manx rio (“frost, ice”), Scottish Gaelic reòdh, reòth (“freeze”), Welsh rhew (“frost, ice”), Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost, rime”), Albanian prush (“embers”), Lithuanian prausti (“to give showers of rain”), Czech prskat (“to splutter, sputter”), Macedonian прска (prska, “to spray, sprinkle”), Polish pryskać, prysnąć (“to spray, sprinkle”), Russian пры́скать (prýskatʹ), пры́снуть (prýsnutʹ, “to spray, sprinkle”), Serbo-Croatian прскати, prskati (“to spray, sprinkle”), Sanskrit प्रुष्णोति (pruṣṇoti, “to moisten, shower, sprinkle, wet”), प्रुष्वा (pruṣvā, “hoarfrost, ice, rime”), Saraiki پسݨ (pussaṇ, “to become wet”).
See the above verb.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Related words
Idioms
freeze out — To snub or ice out; to forcibly remove or exclude.
until the cows freeze over — For a very long period of time.
when Hell freezes over — Never; not in this lifetime or a time in the unforeseeably distant future; not a chance.