freeze out

verb

froze out; frozen out; freezing out; freezes out

transitive verb

: exclude

freeze-out

ˈfrēz-ˌau̇t 

noun

Synonyms

• ban
• bar
• close out
• count (out)
• debar
• eliminate
• except
• exclude
• rule out
• shut out

Examples of freeze out in a Sentence

a housing market that effectively freezes out people of moderate means

Recent Examples on the Web

Roman Polanski’s film An Officer and a Spy is to receive its UK premiere, five years after winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and despite being frozen out of the UK and American film market due to the director’s criminal past. —Caroline Frost, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2024

The Rising Stars game began as the Rookie Challenge in 1994, putting the league’s newest players on display for several years until the 1999 lockout froze out the 1998 class that starred Vince Carter, Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki. —Jason Clinkscales, Sportico.com, 1 Oct. 2024

That could freeze out third parties that want to test the validity of a patent early in the drug development process. —Victoria Knight, Axios, 18 Sep. 2024

Environmentalists, who object to the removal of trees from Capitol Park to accommodate the annex, are also frozen out. —Joe Mathews, The Mercury News, 31 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

freezeout

1 of 2 noun

freeze·​out

ˈfrēz-ˌau̇t

: a corporate action (as a merger) taken by those in control of the corporation (as controlling shareholders or the board of directors) for the purpose of causing the minority shareholders to lose their equity in the corporation (as by the sale of their shares) compare squeezeout

freeze out

2 of 2 transitive verb

: to subject to a freezeout