freezing

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparableinformal

   Extremely cold, often colder than you find comfortable.

   Grammar: Used for weather, rooms and people: a freezing morning, I am freezing.

   Patterns

   • freezing cold
   • be freezing

   It was freezing on the platform, so we waited inside.

   I am freezing; can you turn the heating on?

   The lake water was absolutely freezing.

2. 2adjectivebefore a nountechnical

   At or below the temperature at which water turns to ice, as a measure of temperature.

   Grammar: Used in the phrase freezing point or freezing temperatures.

   Patterns

   • freezing point
   • freezing temperatures

   Overnight temperatures dropped below freezing.

   Water has a freezing point of zero degrees Celsius.

   Freezing rain turned the roads into ice.

3. 3noununcountable

   The process of turning a liquid into a solid, or of preserving food by making it very cold.

   Grammar: Often appears as freezing of something: the freezing of the pond.

   Patterns

   • the freezing of something
   • freezing and thawing

   Freezing of the pipes caused a leak in the basement.

   Freezing food quickly helps keep it fresh.

   Repeated freezing and thawing cracked the pavement.

Common combinations

freezing cold

The room was freezing cold.

freezing rain

Freezing rain made driving dangerous.

freezing point

Salt lowers the freezing point of water.

below freezing

It stayed below freezing all week.

freezing temperatures

Plants may die in freezing temperatures.

Synonyms and how they differ

icy

Icy suggests something like ice, in touch or in wind, while freezing is a general judgment of very low temperature.

bitter

Bitter is often used about wind or cold that feels harsh, whereas freezing can simply refer to the low temperature.

frosty

Frosty suggests frost is present, so it is slightly milder than freezing.

Opposites

Word family

freeze verb

to turn into ice or become very cold

frozen adjective

turned into ice, or preserved by cold

freezer noun

an appliance that keeps food frozen

unfreeze verb

to cause something frozen to thaw

Commonly confused: freezing or frozen?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “freezing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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