Meaning & use
frost
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
A thin white coating of tiny ice crystals that forms on surfaces when the air is cold enough to freeze moisture.
Grammar: Used without an or an: there was frost on the grass.
Patterns
- frost on something
- covered in frost
Frost covered the windshield, so I scraped it before leaving.
Silver frost sparkled on every blade of grass.
The first frost of autumn arrived in October.
nouncountable
A period of weather when the temperature drops below freezing, often harming plants.
Grammar: Often with hard, light, or late: a hard frost.
Patterns
- a hard frost
- a late frost
A late frost killed most of the apple blossoms.
The gardener brought the pots inside to protect them from frost.
We expect a hard frost tonight.
verbtransitiveAmerican
To cover a cake or pastry with a sweet, smooth topping, usually icing.
Grammar: Takes an object: frost the cupcakes.
Patterns
- frost something with something
She frosted the cupcakes with lemon icing.
Let the cake cool before you frost it.
He frosted the layers thickly and added sprinkles.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To cover something with frost, or to make glass look cloudy and opaque.
Grammar: Often passive or with over or up: the window frosted over.
Patterns
- frost over
- frost up
The cold night frosted the car windows.
The bathroom glass was frosted for privacy.
The lake began to frost over by evening.
Word forms
| plural | frosts |
|---|---|
| third person singular | frosts |
| past tense | frosted |
| past participle | frosted |
| -ing form | frosting |
Common combinations
- a hard frost
- A hard frost turned the garden brittle overnight.
- covered in frost
- The fields were covered in frost at sunrise.
- first frost
- Cover the tomatoes before the first frost.
- frost over
- The windshield will frost over if the car sits outside.
- frost a cake
- Wait until the layers are cool before you frost a cake.
- scrape off the frost
- I had to scrape the frost off the windows.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hoarfrost
- Hoarfrost is a more specific word for thick, feathery white crystals, while frost covers any thin icy coating.
- rime
- Rime is a rougher ice coating formed by freezing fog and is more literary or meteorological.
- ice
- Ice is solid frozen water in any form, whereas frost is the thin crystal layer that settles on surfaces; for cakes, ice is the British verb where Americans say frost.
Opposites
Word family
- frosty adjective
- very cold, or covered with frost; also unfriendly in manner
- frosting noun
- sweet icing used to cover cakes
- frostbite noun
- damage to skin from extreme cold
- frosted adjective
- covered with frost or icing, or cloudy, as in frosted glass
- frostily adverb
- in a cold, unfriendly way
Commonly confused: frost or freeze?
frost vs freeze
Freeze is a verb for turning solid with cold, while frost is the thin crystal layer or the cold spell that causes it.
Practice
The cold night left a thin layer of ___ on the car windows.
Choose one answer.
Frost is the noun for ice crystals on a surface. Frosting is cake icing, frostbite is skin injury, and frosted is an adjective, so none fits after a thin layer of.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “frost”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.