Meaning & use
freeze
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To turn into ice or become solid because of very cold temperatures.
Grammar: Intransitive: the lake froze. Transitive: she froze the soup.
Patterns
- freeze over
- freeze something
The pond froze overnight.
Freeze the leftovers if you won't eat them today.
Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius.
verbintransitive
To stop moving suddenly, usually from fear or surprise.
Grammar: No object: he froze when the dog barked.
Patterns
- freeze in fear
- freeze on the spot
The deer froze when the car lights hit it.
I froze when the teacher called my name.
Everyone freeze and don't move!
verbintransitiveinformal
To feel extremely cold.
Grammar: Informal and no object: I'm freezing.
Patterns
- be freezing
- freeze to death
I'm freezing without my coat.
The children were freezing at the bus stop.
You'll freeze out there in that jacket.
verbtransitivebusiness
To officially stop something from changing or being used, such as prices, wages, or bank accounts.
Grammar: Takes an object: the court froze their assets.
Patterns
- freeze prices
- freeze an account
The government froze fuel prices for six months.
The bank froze her account during the investigation.
The company froze hiring until the next year.
nouncountable
A period of very cold weather, or an official stop to changes such as prices or hiring.
Grammar: Usually singular with a: a freeze on wages; a hard freeze.
Patterns
- a freeze on something
- a hard freeze
A freeze on spending upset the departments.
A late freeze damaged the apple blossoms.
The union agreed to a pay freeze.
Word forms
| third person singular | freezes |
|---|---|
| past tense | froze |
| past participle | frozen |
| -ing form | freezing |
| plural | freezes |
Common combinations
- freeze over
- The river froze over in January.
- freeze up
- The pipes may freeze up tonight.
- freeze to death
- Hikers can freeze to death without shelter.
- freeze assets
- Authorities froze the suspect's assets.
- pay freeze
- The firm announced a pay freeze.
- freeze in place
- He froze in place at the sound.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ice over
- Ice over describes only a surface becoming covered with ice, while freeze can mean solid all the way through.
- halt
- Halt means to stop, but freeze suggests stopping suddenly and staying fixed.
- suspend
- Suspend means to stop temporarily, whereas freeze for prices or accounts means to hold at the current state.
- stiffen
- Stiffen describes becoming rigid and does not necessarily involve cold.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: freeze or frieze? freeze or freeze/froze?
freeze vs frieze
A frieze is a decorative band on a wall; it sounds the same as freeze but is spelled differently.
freeze vs freeze/froze
Use froze for the past tense and frozen after have or be: it froze, it has frozen.
Practice
What does the sentence mean? 'The council froze all new hiring.'
Choose one answer.
Freeze here means to officially stop something. The other options read it literally.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “freeze”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.