Meaning & use
refrigerate
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
To put food or drink in a refrigerator to keep it cold and fresh.
Grammar: Takes an object: refrigerate the milk. Often used in the passive: the milk should be refrigerated.
Patterns
- refrigerate something
- keep something refrigerated
- refrigerate after opening
Please refrigerate the leftovers as soon as they cool down.
The label says to refrigerate the sauce after opening.
Keep the vaccine refrigerated until it is needed.
verbtransitivetechnical
To make something cold, especially in a scientific or industrial process.
Grammar: Used in technical contexts; often passive: the sample was refrigerated.
Patterns
- refrigerate a sample
- be refrigerated for ... hours
The laboratory refrigerates blood samples before testing.
The mixture must be refrigerated for at least two hours.
Word forms
| third person singular | refrigerates |
|---|---|
| past tense | refrigerated |
| past participle | refrigerated |
| -ing form | refrigerating |
Common combinations
- refrigerate after opening
- The jar says 'refrigerate after opening'.
- keep something refrigerated
- Keep the dough refrigerated until you are ready to bake.
- refrigerate overnight
- Refrigerate the salad overnight so the flavors mix.
- properly refrigerated
- Properly refrigerated meat lasts longer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- chill
- Chill means to make something cold, often quickly, but it does not always suggest storage for preservation; refrigerate is more specific to keeping food cold in a fridge.
- cool
- Cool means to make something less hot, but it can be at any temperature; refrigerate means to make it cold in a refrigerator.
Opposites
Word family
- refrigeration noun
- The process of keeping things cold.
- refrigerator noun
- The appliance used for refrigerating food.
- refrigerant noun
- A substance used in cooling systems.
Commonly confused: refrigerate or freeze?
refrigerate vs freeze
Freeze means to make something solid at a very low temperature; refrigerate means to keep it cold but not frozen.
Practice
You should ______ the milk after you open it.
Choose one answer.
Refrigerate means to keep food cold in a fridge, which is what you do with milk after opening. Freeze would make it solid, and heat or boil would make it hot, which is wrong for preserving milk.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “refrigerate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.