Library / English Dictionary

FREEZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: froze    , frozen   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fixing (of prices or wages etc) at a particular level

Example:

a freeze on hiring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("freeze" is a kind of...):

limitation; restriction (an act of limiting or restricting (as by regulation))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "freeze"):

hiring freeze (a freeze on hiring)

price freeze (a freeze of prices at a given level)

wage freeze (a freeze of wages at a given level)

Derivation:

freeze (prohibit the conversion or use of (assets))

Sense 2

Meaning:

An interruption or temporary suspension of progress or movement

Example:

a nuclear freeze

Synonyms:

freeze; halt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("freeze" is a kind of...):

pause (temporary inactivity)

Derivation:

freeze (stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Weather cold enough to cause freezing

Synonyms:

freeze; frost

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("freeze" is a kind of...):

cold weather (a period of unusually cold weather)

Derivation:

freeze (be cold)

freeze (be very cold, below the freezing point)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid

Synonyms:

freeze; freezing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("freeze" is a kind of...):

chilling; cooling; temperature reduction (the process of becoming cooler; a falling temperature)

phase change; phase transition; physical change; state change (a change from one state (solid or liquid or gas) to another without a change in chemical composition)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "freeze"):

freeze-drying; lyophilisation; lyophilization (a method of drying food or blood plasma or pharmaceuticals or tissue without destroying their physical structure; material is frozen and then warmed in a vacuum so that the ice sublimes)

frost; icing (the formation of frost or ice on a surface)

Derivation:

freeze (change to ice)

freeze (cause to freeze)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suddenly behave coldly and formally

Example:

She froze when she saw her ex-husband

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Anesthetize by cold

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

anaesthetise; anaesthetize; anesthetise; anesthetize; put out; put under (administer an anesthetic drug to)

Domain category:

operation; surgery; surgical operation; surgical procedure; surgical process (a medical procedure involving an incision with instruments; performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be cold

Example:

I could freeze to death in this office when the air conditioning is turned on

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

suffer (feel unwell or uncomfortable)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody's (body part) ----s

Derivation:

freeze (weather cold enough to cause freezing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Prohibit the conversion or use of (assets)

Example:

Freeze the assets of this hostile government

Synonyms:

block; freeze; immobilise; immobilize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

keep back; withhold (hold back; refuse to hand over or share)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They freeze the money

Antonym:

unfreeze (make (assets) available)

Derivation:

freeze (fixing (of prices or wages etc) at a particular level)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it

Example:

Suspend the aid to the war-torn country

Synonyms:

freeze; suspend

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

break; interrupt (terminate)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

freeze (an interruption or temporary suspension of progress or movement)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Change to ice

Example:

The water in the bowl froze

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

"Freeze" entails doing...:

solidify (become solid)

Verb group:

freeze; freeze down; freeze out (change from a liquid to a solid when cold)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "freeze"):

glaciate (become frozen and covered with glaciers)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The water freezes

Antonym:

boil (come to the boiling point and change from a liquid to vapor)

Derivation:

freeze; freezing (the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Cause to freeze

Example:

Freeze the leftover food

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Cause:

freeze (change to ice)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "freeze"):

deep freeze (store in a deep-freeze, as for conservation)

ice (cause to become ice or icy)

flash-freeze; quick-freeze (freeze rapidly so as to preserve the natural juices and flavors)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The chefs freeze the vegetables

Derivation:

freeze (the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid)

freezer (electric refrigerator (trade name Deepfreeze) in which food is frozen and stored for long periods of time)

freezing (the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Change from a liquid to a solid when cold

Example:

Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit

Synonyms:

freeze; freeze down; freeze out

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

solidify (become solid)

Verb group:

freeze (change to ice)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

freezing (the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Stop moving or become immobilized

Example:

When he saw the police car he froze

Synonyms:

freeze; stop dead

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "freeze" is one way to...):

stand still (remain in place; hold still; remain fixed or immobile)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "freeze"):

fixate; settle on (become fixed (on))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 10

Meaning:

Be very cold, below the freezing point

Example:

It is freezing in Kalamazoo

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Sentence frame:

It is ----ing

Sentence example:

It was freezeing all day long

Derivation:

freeze (weather cold enough to cause freezing)

freezing (the withdrawal of heat to change something from a liquid to a solid)

Credits

 Context examples: 

This frozen region is north of Pluto’s icy mountains, in the center-left of the heart feature, informally named “Tombaugh Regio”.

(New Horizons Discovers Frozen Plains in the Heart of Pluto’s ‘Heart’, NASA)

The study involved cancer patients who provided their own fecal sample, which was frozen and stored prior to their cell transplantation procedure.

(Fecal microbiota transplantation helps restore beneficial bacteria in cancer patients, National Institutes of Health)

To develop the new method, researchers analysed 92 samples of frozen medulloblastoma’ tissue gathered from children and young adults up to 24 years old undergoing treatment in three hospitals in the state of Sao Paulo.

(New method to classify brain tumour in children, SciDev.Net)

A vaccine made from immune system cells taken from a patient with prostate cancer and frozen for future use.

(APC8015F, NCI Dictionary)

If confirmed, this potential reservoir of frozen water on the Moon may be sufficiently massive to sustain long-term lunar exploration.

(The Moon and Mercury May Have Thick Ice Deposits, NASA)

Scientists estimate that there is more than twice as much carbon locked in the frozen North as there is in the atmosphere today.

(Alaska Shows No Signs of Rising Arctic Methane, NASA)

If plumes are indeed spewing vapor from Europa's ocean or subsurface lakes, Europa Clipper could sample the frozen liquid and dust particles.

(Old Data Reveal New Evidence of Europa Plumes, NASA)

On Ceres, hydrogen is likely to be in the form of frozen water.

(Where is the Ice on Ceres?, NASA)

A procedure in which an extremely cold liquid or an instrument called a cryoprobe is used to freeze and destroy abnormal tissue.

(Cryoablation, NCI Dictionary)

The process of cooling and storing cells, tissues, or organs at very low or freezing temperatures to save them for future use.

(Cryopreservation, NCI Dictionary)