Meaning & use
unthaw
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Meaning
verbtransitive or intransitiveinformal
To let frozen food or other frozen things become soft or liquid again; many speakers and writers treat this as a variant of thaw.
Grammar: Can take an object (unthaw the chicken) or stand alone (the ice unthawed).
Patterns
- unthaw something
- something unthaws
I left the chicken on the counter to unthaw.
The pipes began to unthaw once the sun came out.
Please unthaw the berries before you bake the muffins.
Word forms
| third person singular | unthaws |
|---|---|
| past tense | unthawed |
| past participle | unthawed |
| -ing form | unthawing |
Common combinations
- unthaw the meat
- Unthaw the meat in the fridge overnight.
- leave to unthaw
- Leave the bread to unthaw for an hour.
- unthaw slowly
- The soup will unthaw slowly in the refrigerator.
- unthaw completely
- Let the dough unthaw completely before rolling it.
Synonyms and how they differ
- thaw
- Thaw is the standard form and means exactly the same, which is why unthaw is often seen as unnecessary.
- defrost
- Defrost is common for freezers and food, and often implies using a device or a method.
- melt
- Melt describes a solid turning to liquid and is more general, used for ice, butter and metal.
- warm up
- Warm up is a casual phrasal verb and may not mean fully unfrozen.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: unthaw or thaw?
unthaw vs thaw
Thaw is the standard, preferred word; unthaw is understood but many editors mark it as a mistake because un- seems to reverse thawing.
Practice
Which is the standard, safest choice in careful writing?
Choose one answer.
Thaw already means to become unfrozen. Unthaw is understood but nonstandard, and dethaw is not accepted. Rethaw would mean thaw again.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unthaw”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.