Meaning & use
cold to the bone
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Meanings
phrasefixed phrase
Extremely cold, so that the chill seems to reach deep into your body.
Grammar: Used after a linking verb such as be, feel, or get: I was cold to the bone.
Patterns
- be cold to the bone
- feel cold to the bone
- get cold to the bone
We waited for the bus for half an hour and I was cold to the bone.
After walking home through the snow, she felt cold to the bone.
Put another blanket on — the baby is cold to the bone.
phrasefixed phrasefigurative
Filled with a deep, lasting feeling such as fear, sadness, or loneliness.
Grammar: Figurative use; often followed by with and the feeling: cold to the bone with fear.
Patterns
- cold to the bone with fear
- cold to the bone with grief
- be cold to the bone
When the lights went out, he was cold to the bone with fear.
Since her friend moved away, she has felt cold to the bone.
The news left the whole village cold to the bone with sorrow.
Common combinations
- be cold to the bone
- Come inside — you must be cold to the bone after that walk.
- feel cold to the bone
- I felt cold to the bone even with two sweaters on.
- freezing cold
- It was freezing cold outside, and we were cold to the bone by the time we got home.
- cold to the bone with fear
- She stood in the dark corridor, cold to the bone with fear.
- shiver with cold
- He was shivering with cold and said he was cold to the bone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- freezing
- Much more common and less strong; it simply means very cold, while 'cold to the bone' suggests the cold has gone right through you.
- frozen stiff
- Focuses on the body being unable to move because of cold, not on the depth of the chill.
- chilled to the marrow
- A similar idiom with almost the same meaning, but it sounds more literary and is used less often.
Opposites
Word family
- bone-chilling adjective
- Describing wind, weather, or a story that makes you feel extremely cold or frightened.
- bone-deep adjective
- Reaching very deep, used of feelings or cold that seem to come from inside you.
Commonly confused: cold to the bone or cold-blooded?
cold to the bone vs cold-blooded
This means cruel and showing no pity, or, in biology, having a body temperature that changes with the surroundings. It does not mean simply feeling very cold.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'cold to the bone' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The phrase describes a person or animal feeling extreme cold, so 'I was cold to the bone' fits. Option 0 is wrong because the phrase is not used for food, option 2 confuses it with 'weak at', and option 3 confuses it with 'be cold to someone', which means to treat them without friendliness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cold to the bone”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.